Charlie scenes
by Cassie Valentine
Summary: Random scenes that had to be written, but will probably never find a home in Da Capo Al Fine.
1. Chapter 1

These are all just random "Charlie" scenes. Various ages, various scenes that were all demanding to be written, but will most likely never fit into Da Capo Al Fine at any point.

* * *

"You're here again?" Christopher asked when he saw Luke ducking out of the Crap Shack.

"You're MIA again?" he shot back as he closed the door and headed down the stairs. The two men stared at each other for a moment.

"They knew I was coming," Christopher supplied.

"They thought you'd be here yesterday." Luke held the smug grin off of his face when he saw a slight flush on Chris' face.

"I got held up," he said, not saying anything more.

"And I held them up," Luke countered. They stared at each other again before Chris tried to move past Luke. He shot an arm out to stop Chris, giving him a slight shove backwards. "They don't want to see you."

"They don't even know I'm here."

"So you think it's a coincidence that I just happened to step out when you got here?"

"LOR!" Chris called, realizing that he wasn't going to get past the man in front of him.

"Just go," Luke said as he tried to usher Chris back to his car. "They'll call tomorrow."

"Get off me Diner Man," he said, shrugging Luke's hands away. "Charlie!" he called, switching tactics.

"I said go," Luke said again as he grabbed him more firmly and ushered him towards the car.

"They're my kids, you can't stop me from seeing them."

"Then why am I the one raising them?" Luke asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why the hell am I the one teaching them to ride bikes and to fish and making the mashed potatoes and soup in a cup with a straw because they're sick and refuse to eat anything else? Why am I the one who has to sit through horrible plays and presentations and graduations and dance recitals?" Luke demanded.

"You can't make up for missing your kids life by raising some one else's kids!" Chris shot back.

"You can't make up for not raising your kids by trying again with another woman!" Luke shot back.

"Fuck you," Christopher said as he got right up in Luke's face.

"You're not my type," he replied, dead calm. They stared at each other for a moment longer before Chris finally started to back away. Luke turned for the house when he heard the car door open but just before he got to the stairs, he heard him coming and turned around just in time for a sucker punch to the face. Luke pulled himself up off the ground as fast as he could and met Chris half way, landing a few good shots of his own. The commotion out side was enough to tear Lorelai away from the book she was reading to Charlie.

"Go find Rory," she told the 4 year old as she marked their place in the book. "Go tell her to finish reading to you," she said as she brought the girl down stairs before stepping out to check on the commotion.

"Chris! No!" she yelled when she finally saw what was going on. While she briefly toyed with the idea of getting between them, she changed her mind and darted around the corner of the house to grab the hose. A little November Connecticut hose water would definitely cool them off. She turned in on full and aimed at the pair, still calling to them to stop, which they did one they were both soaked through. The pair stood a few feet apart, breathing heavily and starting to shiver as Lorelai turned the hose off.

"What the hell?" she demanded of them as she came to stand between them. The men looked at hear, but neither said anything. "I think you better go," she said to Chris, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Lor," he started.

"I said go, Chris," she said again, not budging. "You're not seeing her today."

"Her? So I can see one of them? I want to see Charlie then."

"No," she said. "You will not see her. She doesn't want to see you. You promised her you'd be there for this recital, swore that you and Gigi would be there no matter what. And then you don't show up. You didn't even call. Jesus Chris, she was so upset that she spent the next 2 hours crying over it instead of dancing, she's heart broken! She's never asked you to come to ANYTHING until now and you didn't show up!"

"I'm not a psychic Lore! I couldn't guess that Gigi would start projectile vomiting an hour before we were supposed to leave!"

"Remember that conversation we once had about this GREAT invention called a phone?"

"Have you ever tried to make a phone call while your kid is puking her guts up?"

"Lots of times Chris. Lots of times with Rory and lots with Charlie. I've called work and sitters and Sookie and Luke and a half dozen other people that I had made commitments to that I had to break because my kid was sick."

"What ever," he said as he stalked off towards the car. "I'll call them tonight."

"They won't answer," she threw at him, both she and Luke watching to make sure that he really drove away with time. "And you? A fist fight? What the hell Luke?"

"He jumped me from behind, sucker punched me," he defended himself. "Do you honestly think I'd fight Christopher in your front yard for kicks?" She stared at him long and hard for a moment before sighing in defeat and heading to the house.

"Are you coming? You can't be feeling very toasty right now," she said calmly.

"I'm sorry," he said as he followed her to the house. "Did Charlie. . "

"I sent her to read with Rory in her room. Just go change, shower, get warm," she said as she headed to Rory's room to check on the girls while he did just that. Just as she was about to knock on Rory's door, her Sidekick went off.

'What the hell?' was the message from Rory.

'Your father decided to pay a visit and Do Not Enter Luke was in his way.' Lorelai replied.

'And the hose?'

'To break up the prize fighters.'

'Speechless.' Rory concluded as she signed off.

* * *

"The alarm is set, we will be there on time," Lorelai assured Charlie as she tucked her in. "Your bag is all packed with your new shoes on top and a snack. I know for a fact that there is no meeting at the school at 6 am, so don't bother."

"Why would I want to be there at 6 am? School doesn't start until 8," Charlie pointed out, looking up at her mother.

"Oh thank God," she said with a sigh before filling Charlie in on Rory's first day of school. While shocked that her mother had fallen for the story, she wasn't shocked that Rory had spun it.

"Is Luke coming?"

"Your dad said he might even show up," Lorelai said, ignoring the Luke question. She and Luke were. . . . on the outs, to put it mildly. Between Emily and Christopher both sticking their noses where they didn't belong, their relationship was strained and that was putting it politely.

"What about Luke?" she asked again. Her dad had never really been there for anything special, but Luke had been around for nearly everything.

"Probably not, he has to run the diner."

"Can we have breakfast there first?"

"Sookie invited us over tomorrow morning, remember? All your favourites!"

"Oh yeah," she said with a smile. Her mother was side stepping the whole Luke question and she knew it. "Okay. Breakfast at Sookie's house," she said with a nod.

"Excited?"

"No. I don't really want to go," she said, sinking under her covers.

"You are going to have so much fun, babe," Lorelai said. "Lots of kids your age, games, and toys we don't have at home, new books, crafts and you've met your teacher, you like Miss Lana, she wears those funny hats."

"I know," she said. "But. . . but what if you get lonely?" she said seriously.

"Then I shall have to do my best to endure," she said dramatically in a bad accent. "Bed. Sleep. Good," she said as she kissed Charlie good night once more. "Everything will be fine,"

she assured the little girl again as she got up and turned the main light in the room off, the room Rory and Charlie shared, before closing the door almost all the way and heading to the living room to watch some TV before bed.

Charlie sighed as she laid in bed, wishing that Rory was here so she could crawl in with her and be reassured some more but Rory had left for Yale last week and she was almost a whole hour away now. She decided that she didn't care and after throwing off her covers she grabbed her blankie and crawled between the sheets of Rory's bed and snuggled into her pillows, closing her eyes and imagining all the things her sister would have said to make her feel better.

"Okay, so, in order for me to do the whole 'dropping you off at school' thing, you have to let go," she whispered to Charlie who was still clinging to her hand for dear life. Charlie shook her head quickly, her brown curls flying around as she took in all the kids running wild in the room. Lorelai didn't really get the whole shy routine. Charlie was never shy, she was gregarious when it came to other kids her age. She was always the loudest at birthday parties, the one Patty was ALWAYS telling to be quiet and listen and no, it's not time to use that right now come and sit down! "What's wrong?" Lorelai asked her.

"Don't go," Charlie pleaded.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Don't go," she said again quietly, playing with some buttons on Lorelai's blouse.

"I have to go to work," she said. "I have to go help Sookie and Michel at the Dragonfly, I can't stay Charlie," she explained again. And she really did have to go, she was meeting with the first couple who wanted to get married at the inn. "I will be back here, promptly at noon to pick you up. I will not forget you and if I can't make it, Luke already told you he'd be here and he never forgets anything."

"Charlie! There you are!" Miss Lana said cheerfully as she saw the 4 year old and her mother out side of the room. "Are you going to come and join us?"

"No," Charlie said quickly.

"Yes," Lorelai replied at the same time. "Wait, why not?"

"I changed my mind," she said in a rush, the tears starting to come. "I don't want to do this any more. I want to stay at home and be stupid and learn everything I need to know about life from Jerry Springer!" she quoted her mothers reasons for going to school back to her.

"We're gonna be a few minutes," Lorelai said to the teacher with a tight smile. She nodded as she returned to the room. "Charlie, baby, honey, fruit of my loins I need you to go to school today. You HAVE to go to school today or my world will come to an end. I need you to go into that room and show that teacher how smart you are. I need you to draw me a picture for my office and another one for the fridge at home and Rory wants one and so does Grandma and Sookie and Dad."

"And Luke?"

"What is with you and Luke today? Yes, one for Luke too," she said. She'd agree to Charlie getting a tattoo at this point if it meant she could leave.

"And you won't forget me?"

"I will be here with bells on kid," she said. Lorelai breathed a sigh of relief as Charlie heaved a sigh, squared her shoulders and marched into the class room announcing that she needed to draw pictures. She also heard the teacher quickly move in and start introducing her to the other kids while showing her where she should put her things and where to sit in the circle. Lorelai hung around for a moment longer, just to make sure that Charlie was going to stay before she hurried out. If she sped, just a little, she could make it to the inn and only be 5 minutes late for the meeting

* * *

This was Lorelai's favourite time to be in Luke's, just before he closed. There was no one in here except for her, Charlie and Luke after another thrilling Friday night dinner. Rory had gone straight home to finish up some homework, At least that was the rumour but Lorelai had a feeling that the homework was probably make out 101 with Jess.

"So, really that bad?" Luke asked as he side stepped the toddler who was shuffling around the diner, clinging to chairs and tables as she babbled away to herself.

"My mother was in full form tonight," she said, accepting the coffee mug from Luke while keeping half an eye on her youngest. "She would not stop dragging up the fact that Rory was just a little older than Charlie when I took off and could they expect that to happen again? And when she got tired of that, she started nit picking. I should cut her hair, it's in her eyes. That dress is too long on her, the colour doesn't really suit her now that her hair is starting to darken. . . And it just went on and on. My father read the paper, Rory tried valiantly to change the subject and Charlie just wanted out of the high chair," she said with a sigh.

"Hey!" he called to Charlie before she went behind the counter. She stopped and looked at him to see if he really meant it. Her bottom lip quivered for a moment but she turned around and headed slowly back towards them when she realized Luke wasn't going to relent and let her explore back there. "Well, it's over now for another week," he said as he put a couple of donuts on the table and took a seat himself.

"Mmmmm." Charlie said as she finally made back to the table, patting Lorelai's leg as she pointed to the donut in her hand.

"Please, please don't give her that," Luke pleaded half heartedly.

"Fine," she said. She reached and broke off part of the white donut instead of the chocolate one she was eating. "Have at it babe," she said as she handed it to Charlie. Charlie stared at it for a moment. She knew she wasn't really getting what she wanted but decided that it was close enough and eventually reached out and took it.

"She still on that apple juice kick?" Luke asked.

"Of course. I blame you for that," she said as he got up and headed to the kitchen. When he was out of site, Lorelai gave Charlie a piece of the chocolate donut as well. The baby giggled as she accepted it.

"Mmmmm," Charlie said as she pointed towards the kitchen, looking for Luke. Lorelai smiled a little, everything was 'mmmm' these days.

"He went that way," she said, pointing towards the kitchen. Charlie stayed put for a moment longer as she ate the donuts. She had not hands to hang on to anything and crawling was so last week. Charlie let out a little squeal of delight as she saw Luke re-emerge from the kitchen and having finished most of the treat, she clapped a little. Luke chuckled and stopped at the counter for a moment.

"Go get him," Lorelai coaxed her, giving her a little tap on the back. Charlie turned to look at her for a moment before turning back to Luke and starting out.

"Uh, Lorelai," he called, his eyes still fixed on the toddler.

She turned to him but quickly turned her attention to her baby who was taking slow, shaky steps towards the diner man.

"Go baby," she whispered with a smile as she watched her wobble along towards Luke. He slowly stepped a little closer and crouched down to her level as she got closer. Arms flung out, she stumbled a few steps away from him and landed in his arms with a big laugh. Lorelai clapped as Luke swept her up in his arms and carried her back to the table Charlie giggled as she clapped to, leaning towards her mother when they got back to the table.

"When did you get so big and smart?" she asked Charlie as she hugged her. The toddler babbled a little as she reached for the necklace her mother was wearing.

"I think that warrants a celebration," Luke said, leaving the glass of apple juice and a straw on the table. "First steps gets their own donut," he reasoned as he brought over one with lots of icing and sprinkles just for Charlie. Her eyes got wide and her mouth formed a perfect little 'o' when she saw him put it on the table in front of her. She quickly sat herself down on Lorelai's lap and reached for the sweet as Lorelai tried to get her sleeves pulled up before they were covered in donut and icing.

"I guess this is Charlie's potting shed," she said with a smile as she brushed the hair off of Charlie's forehead. Luke chuckled and agreed. Charlie seemed to be hitting all the major milestones in his diner. Sitting up by herself, crawling, standing and now walking.

"Well, I'm honoured," he said as he sat back in his chair and watched the little girl have a fantastic time with the food in front of her before demanding to be put down so she could work on this whole upright mobility thing

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

Charlie's about 5

* * *

Charlie was a daredevil, she always had been. Lorelai had caught her and a toboggan at the top of the stairs when she was three and the snow was slow in coming.

Luke had caught her walking on the railing around the gazebo at 4 and had nearly killed himself in his attempt to get to her before she stumbled and fell the 5 or so feet to the ground below.

"Kid, you are giving me gray hair," Lorelai had announced to Charlie after the gazebo incident.

"I don't see any," Charlie had answered innocently as she searched her mother's dark hair.

"You, you were never like this," Lorelai told Rory over the phone, again after the gazebo incident. "You were odd, the whole wet grass things for instance, but you definitely weren't out to put me in an early grave."

"Blame dad," Rory has said casually. "He's the one with the motorcycle and fast cars and what not."

"Excellent plan," Lorelai said as she blocked Charlie from leaving the house. "Hold on," she told Rory. "Where are you going?"

"Out side."

"What do you need a helmet and all those pads for?" Charlie hesitated for a moment.

"Just a game," she finally answered.

"Absolutely not. Go watch TV or something," she said as she plucked the helmet off of Charlie's head.

"Most parents want their kids to play outside!" Charlie grumbled.

"Yeah well, we all know I'm not most parents!" she called after the disgruntled 4 year old.

Today, however, there was no one to talk her down. In fact, they were all talking her into it.

"Betcha can't do it," one of the boys said. He was a few years older than her and a notorious trouble maker around the school.

"Can too!" Charlie countered, hands on her hips as she stood toe to toe with the boy who had half a foot of height and 20 pounds on her.

"Prove it," he said with a smirk on his face. The other kids in the circle let out a low whistle and whispered among themselves as to whether or not 5 year old Charlie Gilmore would follow through and walk the edge of the jungle gym, some 3 or 4 feet off the ground.

"Fine!" the little girl said as she sat down to take her shoes and socks off. "I will!" she finished as she marched over to the jungle gym in question and after checking for teachers, quickly climbed up.

"This is a bad idea Mike," one of the boys whispered to the instigator

"She'll chicken out," he said confidently, crossing his arms over his chest as he stood back to watch. Charlie sat on the edge of the jungle gym for a moment, willing her palms and the soles of her feet to stop sweating. She quickly wiped them off with her t-shirt, brushed the hair that had come loose from her pony tail out of the way and slowly stood up, using another bar for support.

"No hands!" Mike called out.

"Keep your shorts on!" Charlie called back as she clung to the bar, steadying herself before she tentatively left go and took her first step. The group of kids grew quiet as she slowly shuffled her way across the length of the pole. She smiled confidently as she neared the end but at the last minute, her foot slipped on something and she lost her balance. Charlie toppled forward, cracking her head on the pole she had been walking on before she tumbled to the left and to the ground. She lay on the ground, dazed as the other kids crowded around her.

"Hey, kid," Mike said, trying to get her attention Charlie's eyes suddenly came back into focus and she let out a cry as her mind finally caught up to what had happened to her. The older kids scattered as some of the younger ones ran off to find a teacher.

"You're bleeding!" Megan cried, pointing to the sizable cut on Charlie's forehead. This just caused the 5 year old to cry harder. Her head hurt and so did her chest from landing on the pole and her side from hitting the ground.

"Charlie Gilmore, what have you done now?" Mrs Albert asked as she wandered over, not realizing that something serious had happened.

"She fell!" Megan supplied. "From all the way up there!" she pointed to the pole Charlie had been walking and

Mrs. Albert realised that it wasn't just another minor slip up. Megan was sent to get Mr. Cuthbert and Mrs. Albert, a young teacher who was relatively new to the job, knelt behind Charlie and held her head steady, using a Kleenex she had in her pocket to keep the blood away from her eyes.

"It'll be ok," she whispered to the little girl, stroking her face with her thumb. "Everything will be okay."

* * *

The next few minutes were a blur of colour and sound. Paramedics were called because she had fallen and hit her head and she was soon whisked off to Woodbridge, Luke by her side since Lorelai was unreachable at the moment.

"She probably won't need anything more than some stitches, Mr. Danes," the Doctor said a few moments after we got there. "But, given her size and the height from which she fell, we just want to make sure."

"Do what ever you need to do," he said, fumbling in his wallet for the piece of paper Lorelai had given him, saying that he had her permission to sign for any medical procedures Charlie may need. The Doctor glanced over it and handed it back to Luke.

"It'll just be a few moments until the CT is cleared," he said. "You can go and sit with her until they're ready." Luke nodded his thanks and ducked behind the curtain. He paused for a moment before Charlie realised it was him. She looked tiny in the ugly hospital gown, a stiff brace around her neck and bright white Velcro straps holding her to the back board. Just in case.

"Luke?" she finally asked with a sniffle.

"Hey kiddo," he said softly as he stood above her. "Quite the adventure we're having today, isn't it?"

"I want mom," she said, starting to cry.

"As soon as you go for your ride, I'm gonna call her again," he assured her, brushing the hair off of her forehead, careful to avoid the large bandage covering the gash on her forehead.

"Okay," she said, her voice shaky from the tears.

"Okay," he said as he pulled a chair close and sat by her, telling her nothing stories about when he was a kid until the porters showed up to wheel her away. "Lorelai, it's Luke. You really, really need to call me. Charlie had an accident at school. She's okay but she's in the hospital. Some school policy. We're at Woodbridge United, in the ER," he said to her voice mail. He hit the end button and just as he was sitting down the phone rang.

"Don't panic," he said in the phone after seeing the caller ID.

"My baby is in the hospital and you tell me not to panic?" she demanded.

"She hit her head. Fell off the jungle gym and hit her head. They're just being overly cautious," he told her.

"I'll be right there," she said.

"Be careful!" he reminded her as she hung up. He sighed and sunk back into his chair to wait for Lorelai to show up and Charlie to be brought back.

* * *

"Where is she?" Lorelai asked as she rushed over to Luke. He gathered her into his arms.

"She's not back yet," he said into her hair as he kissed the top of her head. "She's okay. She's scared and is worried you're going to be mad at her but she's okay," he assured her as he held on to her.

"Mr. Danes?" the Doctor asked. "Miss Gilmore?"

"Yes," they both said as Luke let her go. Her hand snaked out to grab a hold of his.

"Your daughter will be just fine. The cut on her forehead is clean enough that after we clean it out, we can use surgical glue to bond the edges."

"No stitches?" Lorelai asked.

"None," he said. "We will keep her here for the next few hours, for observation. We have some reason to believe she may have lost consciousness for a moment or two, but we're not sure so just to be on the safe side. . . "

"I understand," she said, nodding her head and squeezing Luke's had a little more firmly.

"Wonderful. Nancy here will take you to her." They thanked the Doctor and followed the nurse to Charlie.

"Oh baby!" Lorelai said as she rushed over to Charlie, now freed from the back board and neck collar. Charlie started to cry again as Lorelai gathered her into her arms. Luke hung back, feeling as if he was intruding on the moment slightly. He watched quietly as Lorelai rocked the little girl in her arms and dried her tears, comforting her even though all she wanted to do was burst into tears herself.

He chuckled a little as she argued with the Doctors about why she should have to relinquish Charlie while they glued her head back together and eventually he relented and Charlie stayed put in Lorelai's arms. As the activity of the last few hours died down, Charlie drifted off in Lorelai's arms and she turned her attention to him.

"Thank you," she said, allowing herself to cry a little.

"For what?" he asked as he came over, sitting on the edge of the bed as he wiped her tears away.

"For being with her. I know how you feel about hospitals and. . ."

"There's no where else I'd rather be right now," he told her. "You, Charlie, Rory and April, you're my everything," he told her, searching her eyes. She nodded, understanding exactly what he was saying. She moved the little girl from her lap to the bed as Luke stood up and after she was tucked in, Luke took Lorelai's hand and he led her back to the chair he had been sitting in. He sat down and pulled her into his lap like she had done for Charlie and he let her cry herself out. She had been so scared when she had heard Luke's message and when she had seen Charlie that first time. . . The tears were pure relief now. She didn't know what else to do but sit in his lap and cry like her 5 year old had done when she had walked behind the curtain. He held her close and stroked her hair as she cried and when she was done, he expected some quip about handkerchiefs and snot but none came. She kissed him long and tenderly before she curled up against his chest again and Luke held her close again, keeping vigil over his little thrown together family.

* * *

Charlie's 10th Birthday

* * *

Once again, Emily Gilmore had gotten lucky and Charlie's birthday had fallen on a Friday.

"Please mom," Lorelai said as she had already ushered Charlie out to the car to sit with Liam and Maddy. "Please don't turn this into a repeat of Rory's 16th birthday."

"Goodnight Lorelai," she said, ushering her out the door without answering her plea.

"Oh yeah," Lorelai muttered as she headed towards the car. "This is going to be great." She put on a smile as she climbed into the car so the kids didn't question what had happened. "What do you guys think about heading to the diner before home?" when she got an affirmative answer from all three kids, she turned on the radio and headed towards home.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Luke asked later that night after the kids were asleep.

"Sewing. Do we need to get your eyes checked again?" she asked him as she looked up from her project for a moment.

"Why are you sewing?" he asked her, ignoring her quip as he took a seat near by.

"Charlie wants an Anne of Green Gables party, so she's going to get one," she said as she trimmed a few threads on the pinafore she was sowing. There was one for all of the girls and they were to go home with the girls. She never wanted to see these 14 pinafores ever again. "The guests are under orders to wear dresses and suits. Bonus points if they're period specific."

"You're not going to dye her hair, are you?" he asked. He didn't like the look or the smile she sent in his direction.

She gathered the pinafore she had just finished and brought it over to the mannequin that already held the dress she had made Charlie and quickly slipped it on, trying the ties in the back.

"What do you think?"

"Very 1890's," he commented as he slumped in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Good. Yours is upstairs."

"I don't do dresses," he commented. "Don't have the legs for them.

"No, but I do think you're going to look absolutely FANTASTIC in that pressed shirt and celluloid collar I found for you." He looked at her for a moment, more than a little shocked. "You convinced her to base it on the clam bake scene," Lorelai said with a shrug as she stepped back from the mannequin and picked up a large blue ribbon. "You said you'd supervise the cooking which means you have to dress up too," she pointed a small needle at him as she curled up on the couch to begin hemming the ribbon for Charlie's hair to keep it from fraying.

"I hate you," he muttered as he pushed himself up from the chair. "You staying up much longer?"

"Just gonna finish this," she assured him. He kissed her good night and headed up the stairs to their bedroom. Lorelai paused in her hemming for a moment to breath in the cool night air that was filtering in through the window. She and Luke had accepted the house that Emily and Richard wanted to buy them as a wedding gift and they were glad they had. Rory had gotten the room in the attic all to herself and though she rarely stayed over any more since marrying Marty it still remained hers. Charlie had taken the room on the main floor and, eventually, the other bedrooms had been filled with first Maddy who was now 4 and Liam who was 2.

She looked out over the yard, mentally dressing them for the party as she went back to her sewing. She finished quickly and draped the ribbon over the shoulders of the mannequin before peaking in at Charlie. Satisfied she was sleeping soundly, she crept up the stairs to check on Maddy and Liam in the same way before heading to bed herself.

* * *

Lorelai crawled out of bed at 2:05am and slowly made her way downstairs to Charlie's room. She cracked the door open slowly and tiptoed in, leaving the lights off.

"Happy birthday little girl," she said as she kissed her on the forehead and snuggled down on the bed with her exactly 2:07.

"Hi," she said with a sleepy smile, rolling over and throwing an arm over her mother.

"I can't believe how fast you're growing up," she said softly.

"It feels really slow," Charlie countered, her eyes drifting shut.

"Trust me, it's fast. What do you think of your life so far?"

"I think it's great."

"Any complaints," she asked as she glanced down at Charlie.

"I'd like crinoline not to be so itchy," she said sincerely as she made a face.

"Alright, I'll work on that," Lorelai said with a smile of her own.

"Do I look older? Bigger?"

"Of course! Denny's before 5? Big discount."

"Good deal," she said with a smile.

"So, you know what?"

"What?"

"I think you're a great, cool kid and the best friend a girl could have."

"You too," she said as she snuggled into her mother's side and looked up at her.

"And it's hard to believe that at exactly this time, many moons ago. . . "

"Oh no."

"Only I was in a weird smelling hospital room, cursing like a sailor . . ."

"On leave," she muttered.

"On leave, right! at your father for not being able to get to Connecticut. So there I was. . . "

"In labour."

"And let me tell you, it doesn't really get any better the second time around."

"I wonder if Donna Reed ever did this with her kids."

"And I was screaming and cursing and Sookie was trying to keep me calm and then they handed me that stupid cup of ice chips again."

"With no purpose."

"And these nurses didn't appreciate the pelting."

"I love you, mom," Charlie said, squeezing Lorelai tighter.

"Shh. . . I'm getting to the good part. . . So, there we all were. . . "

* * *

The party at Emily and Richards went better than she had expected. Charlie, like Rory, was eager to please her grandparents and while Richard was thrilled with her interest in books and, oddly enough, stamps, Emily was never happier than when she could dress Charlie, the perpetual tomboy, up in crinoline lined dresses and parade her around at Cotillions. As a result of these cotillions, Charlie had forged friendships with some of the richer families in Hartford and while Emily had been sure to invite them, she hadn't forgotten about her friends in Stars Hollow either. 5 of her best friends had been invited and while they had been hesitant at first to go and interact with the Hartford girls, Charlie had quickly bridged the gap and everyone was running wild through the large Gilmore mansion and out into the yard.

"How much longer?" Luke grumbled, pulling at his collar and tie.

"Here," she said, handing Luke a beer. "Drink up and feel better."

"I'd feel better if I didn't have to wear this damn tie," he grumbled a little more before drinking the beer.

"Charlie!" Emily called to her as she and the group of girls barrelled past her again

"A lady doesn't run around like an animal," she reminded them. While the Hartford girls started to mumble apologies and the Stars Hollow girls looked ready to go and find their parents Charlie simply looked up at Emily and smiled.

"Good thing we're not ladies yet, huh Grandma?" she asked with a cheeky little smile as they ran off again

Lorelai laughed at this performance before turning back to Luke and their conversation.

"Lorelai," Richard said as he came over, Liam trailing behind him.

"Yes dad?" she asked as Liam toddled over to her and asked to be picked up.

"Have you ever considered music lessons for Liam?"

"He's 2 dad. He gets bored half way through the ABC song."

"I'd still keep them in mind. You may have finally gotten a child with some musical ability."

"Thanks dad," she said with a small smile and a shake of her head. Rory was all but tone deaf and while Charlie could carry a tune, she wouldn't sit still long enough to learn anything. Maddy had followed in her footsteps, able to sing along to a tape but after that, nothing.

* * *

"Here ya go kiddo," Lorelai said, handing Charlie the dress she had made.

"Wow," was all the new 10 year old could say.

"You bet wow. Look underneath."

"Seriously?" she asked with a smile when she saw the period underwear.

"Hey, if rock and roll has taught us anything it's go big or go home. Go put it on, I still have time to make any minor adjustments that maybe needed." Charlie smiled as she dashed off to her room and Luke came back into the house.

"There all black and shiny," he said handing Lorelai the boots he hand been working on.

"You're so useful," she said with a smile as she kissed him and left the boots outside of Charlie's door.

"Maddy is dressed and as soon as Liam wakes up, he will be too," she said with a sigh of relief as she flopped down on the couch. Forcing the 2 1/2 year old down for a nap had not been easy but she knew he'd be a terror at the party if she didn't. "And April said she'd be ready by the time she got here."

"I guess that means I'm next up?" he said with a large sigh.

"Yes, but we won't do up the collar until later," she assured him with a pat on the arm. "Off ya go."

"Hey, how big did you go?"

"What do you mean?" she asked as she headed for the kitchen.

"I mean are you going ALL the way, or only half way?"

"Are you asking about a corset Luke?" she asked him with an amused smirk, hands on her hips.

"Maybe," he said, not giving anything away.

"Is that thought workin' for you?" she whispered as she came closer to him.

"Maybe," he responded again.

"Then I doubt you'll be disappointed," she said with a wink as she headed off to check on the food situation. Sookie had brought some of the dishes over last night and was planning to bring the rest, mainly the seafood, over today before the party.

Luke's grin got broader as he considered this possibility before heading upstairs to change. He and Jackson had dug the pit for the clam bake over the last couple of days so they didn't have to worry about that, but he would still have to deal with bringing some supplies.

"You look great!" he heard Lorelai squeal at Charlie as she finally came out of her room.

* * *

"So," Lorelai asked as the family lounged on a blanket. "How was it?"

"Fantastic," Charlie said with a smile. Rory and Marty had even shown up, a complete surprise for everyone and it had definitely made Charlie's day. "Good dress, good food, good family. Good day," she concluded as she reached down to undo the laces on her boots. She quickly shimmied out of the tights and headed down to the water of the lake they had thrown the party by. Lorelai turned and glanced up at Luke.

"So?"

"It was good," he admitted. He had taken the collar off after dinner, given that the steam from the pit had warped it enough so that it was digging into his neck. "You, however, are beautiful," he said as she kissed the side of her neck while they watched Rory, April and Charlie help Maddy and Liam play in at the waters edge. "There is just something about this dress and your hair. . . "

"And what's under the dress?" she quizzed him.

"Possibly," he muttered against her neck. She could feel the smile.

"We should head home soon," she said with a sigh that he returned.

"Just a little longer," he said as he watched his kids play in the lake, Marty standing near by, helping with Liam. "Let them live in the 1890's a little longer," he said as he pulled her a little closer.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

**Charlie's about 5 **

* * *

"Are we a real family?" a 5 year old Charlie asked her mother on night as they were snuggled on the couch.

"Of course we are," she said, not really sure where this had come from. "I was there. I had the fat stomach and huge ankles to prove it."

"No, I mean you and me and Rory and April and Luke," she clarified. "Andy said that only people with a mom and a dad are a real family."

"Which you have," Lorelai pointed out.

"No, he says only when they're married."

"We've talked about hits before," she said to Charlie, turning the volume on the TV down. "There are differently kinds of families."

"I know, two mom's, two dad's . . ."

"Then why the question?" Charlie shrugged a little. "Come on Sweets, what's wrong?"

"Well, you say there are different families, but all we ever talk about in school are families with one mom, one dad and kids. No one is ever divorced or has kids without being married or has two mom's," Charlie explained. "They can't both be right."

"Families are complicated," Lorelai finally said. "April and her mom are a family just like you me and Rory are a family."

"So Luke's not family?"

"Not exactly," she said.

"So April's not my sister either? But Luke is always talking about 'your sister April'." Lorelai sighed.

"If me and Luke get married then yes, April will be your step sister and Luke will officially be family."

"What do you mean if?"

"Never mind," she said. "There are some times that everyone can be right and families are one of them, okay?"

"Okay," she said, still not really happy with the out come of the conversation.

* * *

"Are you going to marry mom?" Charlie asked Luke the next day while she was at the diner after school. April stopped doing her homework and turned her eyes to her father. He looked between the two girls.

"Why?" he finally asked Charlie. She spilled out the whole story about families and what Andy had said and what her mother had said. "Do you. . . would you be okay with that?" he asked her. He had been toying with the idea for a while now. He had run it past April and she thought it was a great idea and Rory was more than happy with it but he hadn't been sure about Charlie. She still had a somewhat decent relationship with Christopher and he had been worried about causing trouble with it.

"Yes," she said firmly without hesitation. "I would be very okay with that."

"Well then," he said after a moment. "I guess I'm going to have to get my girls together and go ring shopping then," he said with a wink at Charlie and April. They both giggled before Charlie turned back to her snack and April went back to her home work.

* * *

"So," Luke said a few weeks later as he flopped down on the couch.

"So?" Lorelai asked as she kicked her pumps across the room and came to join him. Rory and Marty had taken Charlie and April this weekend. While April still had hear heart set on MIT, she was willing to take a tour of Yale and Charlie jumped at any chance she got to spend time with Rory. Marty, who would spoil them rotten, was just an added bonus.

"I was thinking," he said as he turned on the couch to face her.

"About?" she prompted after he lapsed into silence.

"Family," he answered simply. Lorelai grinned.

"Charlie got to you too, huh?"

"She did," he said. "And she got me thinking about our family," he said as he quickly slid off the couch and pulled a little blue box out of his pocket. "And I was thinking that maybe we should make it official," he said as he opened it.

"You're kidding, right?" she asked as she looked from the ring to him.

"I braved another game of golf with your father to get his permission," he said as he took the ring from the box. "Don't make me regret it," he said, stating to sweat about whether or not she was going to say yes.

"Oh Luke," she said as she threw her arms around his neck. "Yes, I will," she whispered in his ear. They separated for a moment as he slipped the ring onto her finger before kissing her long and hard.

"Rory, April, Charlie and I spent all day looking for the ring," he told her as he led her upstairs. "And, of course, it was in the last place we looked. April found it, actually. She said it reminded her of you and the rest of us couldn't help but agree," he finished the tale as they reached the bedroom.

"So, the whole Yale tour story?" she asked as she started to undress him.

"Partly true, mostly just cover to get them away for the weekend," he muttered against her lips as his hands went to the zipper on her dress.

"Devious man," she muttered as they fell on to the bed.

* * *

When Rory and Marty had finally returned the girls late Sunday afternoon, the squealing had begun and Luke disappeared into the kitchen to give his poor ears a break.

"Luke?" he heard a little voice behind him.

"Yes Charlie?" he asked. She wandered over to him and looked up at him, still not saying anything.

"Can I call you dad now?" she asked, no hesitation.

"What about your dad?" Charlie shook her head.

"He's Gigi's dad," she said confidently. "You're my dad. I think you might have always been."

"Charlie. . . " Luke started again as he sat down on a kitchen chair and pulled her close to him. She invited herself onto his lap as she cut him off.

"You taught me how to ride a bike and how to swim and fish and you always make me soup in a cup with a straw when I'm sick and you come to all my plays and dance recitals and all the other boring stuff I know you don't like. I make all the Father's Day cards at school for you and buy his," she said firmly as she looked up at him again. "Can I call you dad now?" she asked again.

"Yeah," he said, trying to keep his voice from breaking. "You can."

"Good," she said. "Now come on, we're going out," she finished as she slipped off his lap and grabbed his hand, dragging him out to meet the rest of the Gilmore clan.

* * *

"Charlotte Abigail Gilmore you stop fidgeting this instance!" Emily commanded her youngest granddaughter.

"It pulls!" she cried as she stylist hesitated with the rollers.

"Beauty is pain," Emily told her. "And if you would just sit still, it would pull a lot less." Charlie pouted in her chair as she did as she was told and she was soon sent off to sit under the dryer next to April. The much talked about wedding day had finally arrived and the women were all in a room getting hair and make up done.

"I'm bored," Charlie announced a few moments later.

"Is there anything to snack on?" April asked.

"Is there any coffee?" Rory complained from under her dryer.

"Oh for heaven's sake!" Emily grumbled from her seat in front of the hair dresser. No sooner had all this transpired but Sookie came into the room, a large tray in her arms and her hair in curlers.

"Coffee," she said handing a cup to Emily and another to Rory. "A fruit plate, or two," she said as she set one between April and Charlie and another on an empty table. "And a book of puzzles," she said, dropping it and a pencil in Charlie's lap.

"Thanks Sookie," all the girls said at the same time.

"You're welcome Peanuts," she replied with a smile as she ducked in to the back room to check on Lorelai. "How you doin' honey?" she asked her best friend.

"Okay," Lorelai said as she continued to stare at her dress. "There it is," she muttered as she grabbed Sookie's hand and pressed her finger against a spot. Sookie watched as she quickly grabbed a needle that had been near by and began to re-secure some of the beads that had tried to work their way free from the dress. "I saw it this morning when I got here and just haven't had time to fix it before now," she explained.

"Ah," Sookie said as she pulled her hand away. "Nervous?"

"A little. I have visions of falling or tripping or something."

"It'll be fine," she said. "Everything looks perfect," she assured her. "And the food will be fantastic no matter what happens!" Lorelai and Sookie giggled about this until Lorelai was ordered to the main room for her turn in the big chair.

* * *

The yard at the Dragonfly was perfect. The Chuppa stood tall and proud, covered in tiny light blue flowers, the white chairs all had the same blue flowers adorning their backs and the lush green of the grass and trees complemented everything perfectly.

Luke glanced over at things one more time before Richard called him over.

"I think you may be the best thing that ever happened to her," he told Luke as he pinned the boutonnière on to his tux. "We may not have made it easy for you and for that we're sorry," he said as he finished, brushing some imaginary creases out of the shoulders of Luke's jacket. "But it doesn't matter now. As long as you don't do anything that can't be cured by an apology, flowers or jewellery, everything will be fine." The two men shared a smile before Richard moved on to Jess.

"So, this is it," Jess muttered to Luke as they made their way up to the Chuppa.

"This is it."

"Last chance to run," Jess commented with a smile.

"Don't really want to," he said as he fidgeted slightly, waiting for the girls to be ready to go.

"Good answer," Jess said as Marty came up to join them. Luke hadn't been particularly keen on involving Marty in this, simply because he'd have to admit to himself that Rory wasn't 10 years old any more. But, since Lorelai had looked at him and informed him that the sides simply COULDN'T be uneven, he had relented.

"Congratulations," Marty said with a smile as he shook Luke's hand shortly before the music changed and everyone turned to watch April and Charlie make their way down towards the Chuppa. April handed the rings over to her father before they stepped to side and Rory and Sookie began their walk down the aisle.

Luke's breath caught in his throat as he saw Lorelai and part of his brain couldn't help but comment on how clichéd that was. He shrugged it off as he watched her make her way towards him on the arm of her father. Her dress was beautiful, clinging in all the right places with just the right amount of beading and embroidery in the same blue colour as her eyes.

They both made it through the ceremony without crying and when they finally made it to the reception it finally hit him that he had finally married Lorelai Gilmore.

* * *

"Dad! Dad!" Charlie called to him as she raced over to him, dark curls flying out behind her. "Dance with me!" she said excitedly as she grabbed his hand and pulled him away from her mother. He smiled and relented and let himself be led onto the dance floor. He stood patiently as she climbed onto the toes of his shoes before he started moving them around the floor.

"So," he asked Lorelai as they swayed lazily around the dance floor. "Everything you ever hoped for?"

"And more," she assured him as she kissed him. "When did she start calling you dad?"

"Today," he said with a smile. "She asked if she could when we got engaged and I hesitated before she spilled out a very compelling argument as to why I should agree."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Christopher will always be her father, but I'm her dad," he told Lorelai. She held him tighter as they danced after that.

"You are," she whispered in his ear.

"And I'm honoured," he told her as he held her as close as he could for the rest of the song.

* * *

**Charlie's about 3, almost 4. I think. First date!**

* * *

"So, I was wondering," Luke said one morning as he served Lorelai a cup of coffee.

"Yes?" she asked him.

"Where's Charlie?"

"You were wondering where Charlie is?"

"No," he said with a shake of his head. "I'm wondering something else too."

"Ok. Well, Charlie spent the night with Emily and Richard. Next?"

"What are you doing Saturday night?"

"Sitting at home with Charlie. Rory is staying at Yale."

"How would you maybe feel about shipping Charlie off to her grandparents again so I could take you out." This gave her reason to pause.

"Take me out where?"

"I was thinking maybe dinner and a movie."

"So. . . on a date?" she asked. They had been getting closer recently, but she hadn't really thought much of it.

"Sure," he said. "A date."

"I'll see what I can do," she said after a moment with a shy smile.

"Great," he said. "Pick you up around 7?"

"Sounds good," she said as she finished the cup of coffee out. "TO go?" she asked him.

"Seriously?" he said. She showed him her mug and he sighed as he filled a to go cup for her. "Death in a cup."

"But what a way to go," she said with a smile as she headed out the door. "Rory?" she said into her cell phone as she rounded the corner.

"Do you know what time it is?" Rory grumbled.

"I'm dating Luke," she announced. This got the sleepy Yale students attention.

"What?"

"He just asked me out, this Saturday."

"We are never going to be able to eat at Luke's again," she muttered as she collapsed back onto her pillow.

"Oh ye of little faith!" Lorelai said into the phone. "You're a downer, I can't deal with you right now," she said as she hung up and headed for the jeep. She was supposed to have been on her way to Hartford 10 minutes ago.

* * *

As she picked up an almost 4 year old Charlie, she asked her parents if they'd like her again on Saturday and her mother readily agreed. Lorelai listened as Charlie went on and on about all the things she and her grandparents had done while she worried about this date with Luke.

"Mom? Mom are you listening?" Charlie asked. Lorelai glanced at her in the review mirror, watching her kick her feet in her booster seat.

"Sorry baby," she said "Start again." Charlie sighed and rolled her eyes and launched into her story again. "How would you feel and I went out with Luke?"

"Went out where?" she asked.

"Like on a date"

"Like Rory and Marty?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah. Dinner and a movie."

"Do I get to stay with Grandma and Grandpa again?"

"Sure do," she said as she pulled into the driveway of the nearly completed Dragonfly Inn.

"I think it's good then," she said as the jeep came to a stop and she waited for Lorelai to free her from the car seat. Charlie hopped out of the jeep and took Lorelai's hand, smiling as Tom plunked a hard hat on her head before they entered the Inn.

"You sure?"

"Yip," she said as she looked at all the changes around her. "I like Luke."

"Me too," she said with a smile as they headed towards the kitchen to see how Sookie was doing.

* * *

"What do you mean you can't take her?" Lorelai asked her mother as she rushed around her bedroom getting ready for the date. "You said you would."

"This dinner came up last minute."

"Take her with you, she loves a good dinner party," she said as she flipped through the dresses in her closet while Charlie lounged on the bed flipping through a book.

"Don't be ridiculous Lorelai," Emily said. "I'm sure you can find some one else to look after her for an evening." Lorelai heard her father calling out to her mother in the background. "I really have to run Lorelai, we're already running late."

"Mom!"

"Good night Lorelai!" Emily said as she hung up.

"Unbelievable!" Lorelai said as she hit the end button and tossed the phone in the general direction of the bed. "So, you re not staying with Grandma and Grandpa tonight," she said as she finally picked a dress and put it on.

"Why?" Charlie asked, slightly disappointed.

"Some last minute dinner party. Can you believe that?" Lorelai asked as she picked out some jewellery before heading to the bed to pick up the phone and start dialling numbers.

"No," Charlie said, absolutely serious. "I can't believe their audacity," she stumbled over the large word and Lorelai's finger actually hesitated over the number as she blinked at Charlie a few times. Lane was out with her band, Babette and Morey were off in New York for the night. Rory couldn't get away from school and Christopher was too far away.

"So, how attached to this date are you?" she finally asked Luke over the phone.

"Why?" he asked cautiously.

"Well, see, I have this adorable little problem. About 3 1/2 feet tall, brown hair, blue eyes. . . I think you've seen her around town?"

"Yes."

"Well, she's all ours for the evening," she said, waiting for him to cancel or reschedule.

"Bring her along," he said. "Lorelai?"

"Sorry, I was having an aneurism," she said. "Bring her along?"

"Sure," he said calmly. "Or, do you want to reschedule?" he asked her.

"No," she said quickly as she sank down on the bed beside Charlie. "I just never really expected this from you."

"It'll be fine," he said. "Dress casually," he told her as he hung up.

"Huh," she said as she looked at the phone. She put it on the bed before heading back to her closet.

"Are you not going any more?" Charlie asked when she saw her mother start to change again.

"We're still going, only you're coming with," she said as she grabbed a pair of jeans, a shirt and a blazer. She slipped into them quickly, pulling her hair back from her face and changing her necklace before holding a hand out to Charlie. "Come on, let's get you ready."

"OH boy!" she said as she slid off the bed and ran over to her mother. "Can I wear make up?"

"Maybe a little," she said as they headed downstairs. Charlie was quickly changed out of her Elder Gilmore dress and into a pair of jeans and a cute little top. Lorelai quickly fixed her hair in two French braids and sent her out to wait for Luke as she quickly threw together a bag for Charlie. A spare shirt, some books and quiet toys, a snack and some juice boxes were quickly added before she zipped it shut and headed out to meet Charlie and Luke.

"Luke!" Charlie said excitedly as she launched herself off the porch and into his arms. "This is really great," she told him.

"Well, it's not gonna be like this every time," he told her as he walked up the stairs to greet Lorelai.

"Oh, I know," she said with a nod. Charlie promised herself that she was going to be on her best behaviour while she was out with them. She wasn't completely sure what being on a date meant, but she knew that she wasn't really supposed to be out with them tonight.

"Oh, this way," he said when Lorelai headed towards the jeep.

"Charlie's seat," she started.

"Is already taken care of," he said as he led them to the truck. There, between the driver and passenger seat was a small booster seat.

"Wow," said Charlie with a giggle as Luke put her in the truck.

"Wow," Lorelai said as she helped Charlie with her seat belt.

* * *

"This is your Luke's!" Lorelai said with a smile after they had been sitting in Sniffy's Tavern for a while. Charlie giggled a little as she concentrated on the colouring book Lorelai had pulled out for her. Luke was impressed with Charlie tonight. Usually such a little chatter box, he was surprised that she could entertain herself this quietly for this long.

"How would you like to come and help me out?" Maisy asked Charlie near the end of the meal.

"Can I?" she asked her mother, eyes wide.

"Go a head," she said as she helped Charlie out of the booth. She took Maisy's hand, talking a mile a minute as she was led towards the back of the restaurant to help garnish plates for a while.

"I just want you to know," he said after showing her the horoscope. "I am in. I am all in. Does that scare you?"

"No," she said without hesitation. "It's a relief. I can't casually date with Charlie around," she said.

"I know," he replied. He knew the last time she had tried was with Alex and though he had tried to cover his annoyance with the toddler, he hadn't succeeded and he had soon been sent packing. She nodded as his hand snaked out to take a hold of hers. They talked quietly about various things until Maisy brought Charlie back with deserts she had helped make.

* * *

"And," Luke said as they drove along through Woodbridge. "For our next stop," he said, pulling into a playground by the water.

"A park!" Charlie said excitedly.

"A park," he said as he parked. "Come here," he said to Charlie before she could slide out Lorelai's side of the truck. "I expect you to put these to good use," he said as he handed Charlie a bag with little toys in it.

"Bubbles!" she shrieked with excitement as she handed Luke the bag to hold open while she dug out all the bubble wands he had found for her. Lorelai smiled at this gesture. Charlie loved making bubbles and she was impressed that Luke had remembered. "Thanks Luke!" She said, bouncing on the balls of her feet waiting to be told she could take off.

"Well, off you go," he finally said. Charlie took off and he reached into the truck cab again, pulling out a small pink sweatshirt Lorelai recognised.

"I have been looking for that things for 2 weeks."

"She left it at the diner," he said, tossing over his shoulder before grabbing a blanket out of the truck bed. There were no benches to sit on, so this would have to do. He spread it out and the two of them sat down to talk while Charlie ran around the playground, coming to the blanket every so often for more toys or a drink.

* * *

"I'm cold," she announced after an hour or so. Luke motioned her over and popped the sweatshirt over her head. She thanked him and ran off again.

"Wow, what time is it?" she asked, finally realising that it was starting to get dark and the late April chill was starting to set in.

"About 9," he said. "Should I take you guys home?" he asked, realising that he was possibly disrupting a sleep schedule.

"Nah," she said. "Let her run around some more." And with that, she flashed him a smile and turned her attention back to him.

* * *

Lorelai and Luke both had a feeling Charlie was starting to run down when she started to slowly gather up her toys and bring them back to the blanket. She clutched her bottle of bubbles again before wandering back to the play ground, climbing up to the highest platform and letting her feet dangle over the edge as she blew bubbles out into the night. Lorelai leaned against Luke as they watched Charlie silhouetted against the stars that were starting to come out.

"Not exactly what I had originally planned," he muttered to her as he put an arm around her shoulder.

"I think it's perfect," she told him as she glanced up at him.

"Good," he said as he looked into her eyes. He quickly cast a glance at Charlie before he captured Lorelai's lips with his own.

"Definitely perfect," she mumbled when they broke apart. They lingered in the moment for a while longer. "Come on Sweets, time to go!" Lorelai finally called. She put a hand on Luke's leg as he started to rise. He looked over at her questioningly.

"10 more minutes!" Charlie cried back and he chuckled, understanding now.

"5 more minutes and two more slides," she bargained back.

"Fine," Charlie said, sounding somewhat disappointed.

"Ten minutes left," she told Luke.

"But you said 5."

"Yeah. In Charlie Time," she said. "In regular time? 10, maybe even 15," she said with a smile. He returned it as he pulled her close again, savouring these last few moments.

* * *

"I'm done now," Charlie said as she wandered over, nearly 10 minutes later. Without hesitation, she plunked herself in Luke's lap, bubbles still firmly in her hand. "This was a good date Luke," she announced to him with a yawn.

"A very good date Luke," Lorelai seconded.

"I'm glad the two of you approve," he said with a chuckle as Lorelai began together Charlie's things and he gathered the sleepy little girl up into his arms before they all headed to the car.

"Maybe we could try this again? Without her?" he asked as he walked Lorelai to her door, Charlie sound asleep in his arms.

"I'd like that," she said as she opened the door and let them in. Lorelai slipped Charlie's shoes and socks off at the door, sighing as she heard all the sand falling to the floor. "Come on baby, time to wake up," she said as she took her from Luke and stood her on the ground

"Sleepy," Charlie muttered as she leaned against her mother as she was stripped of her sandy clothes.

"I know," she said as she gathered the sleepy, nearly naked, girl up and grabbed one of her t-shirts off the back of the couch. She took Charlie to bed, pulled the t-shirt over her head and tucked her in.

"Didn't say g'night to Luke," she muttered.

"He knows," Lorelai assured her as she turned on the night light and went back out to Luke. "She says good night." Lorelai told him as she came out to see him picking Charlie's things up off the floor. He put them on the table by the door and pulled her close.

"Good night," he muttered as he kissed her once more, leaving her breathless before he left for his truck as well.

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

**Charlie's 1.5 years**

* * *

"I thought we weren't going to leave things until the last minute again." Rory said as she got Charlie out of the jeep and put her on the ground, holding firmly to the toddlers hand. At a year and a half, Charlie only had one thing on her mind: go!

"I lied?" Lorelai offered as she met up with the pair and they headed into Doose's.

"Great roll model you are," Rory said as she and her mother each grabbed a basket.

"I teach you two the important things," she said as they began plucking things off the shelves. Well, Lorelai and Rory plucked what they needed off the shelves. Charlie just worked her hardest to get her little hands on anything.

"Lorelai."

"Yes Taylor?" Lorelai said with a sigh as she turned around.

"Your youngest is destroying my shelves," he said, tapping his foot as he gestured to the trail of boxed goods that followed behind them.

"Charlie," Lorelai complained The toddler looked up at her with a puzzled look on her face as she clung to a box of something.

"Oops?" Charlie offered.

"Oops indeed," Lorelai said as she put down the basket and went to pick up the boxes on the floor.

"I got it," Luke said, having already picked up most of them.

"You really don't have to do that," she said as she gathered the few closest to her. Luke put what he had picked up back on the shelf before he headed over to Rory and Charlie and picked the toddler up.

"We'll head to the diner, you two finish up."

"Luke," Lorelai started again. "Really."

"Were you going to come over anyways when you were done?"

"Yes," Rory said. She shrugged when Lorelai glared at her.

"Then we'll met you there," he said as he grabbed what he had come in for and headed for the till.

"Let's go," said Rory. "It'll only take like 5 seconds now," she said as she started adding more to her basket. Lorelai made a little bit of a face before she followed Rory through the store, finishing up the shopping they had put off, yet again.

* * *

**Charlie is 4, Maybe 5.**

* * *

"You haveta come! I'll be the only one there without any one!" Charlie moaned to Lorelai.

"I didn't plan this, Babe," she said to Charlie as she rushed around, trying to get ready for work. Charlie, already dressed for school trailed after her.

"Make Michel do it!"

"I can't, Michel is the one that got me into this mess in the first place. Have you seen my watch?" Charlie grabbed it off the coffee table and handed it to her.

"Make Sookie do it!"

"Sookie's a cook honey, she's not the owner and general manager of the inn. I am and that means I have to go down there and straighten this all out," she said again as she grabbed Charlie's back pack and lunch box, handing them to her. There was some kurffuffle at the in, she was sketchy with the details, but the bottom line was that the guests involved would not be satisfied until the manager of the establishment got there and took care of it. "I had to miss lots of things Rory did in school too," she said, trying to make the little girl feel better.

"Did you miss the very first thing?" 'No' Lorelai's brain said.

"I will try, with every fibre of my being to make it there on time but I can't promise," she said. "We need to go right now," she said, helping Charlie put on her winter coat and boots.

"It's too early."

"I'm dropping you off at Luke's," she said as she ushered the little girl out to the car. Charlie peaked in her lunch box when she got into the car and sure enough, it was still empty. "See ya later Sweets," Lorelai said.

"Bye," Charlie said glumly as she slid out of the back seat and into the craziness that was Luke's in the morning. She climbed up onto one of the stools at the counter and Lane quickly set down a plate of pancakes in front of her and took the empty lunch box, setting it on the back counter. Charlie sighed as she dug in. She may be upset, but she was still a Gilmore Girl and Gilmore Girls didn't turn down Luke's pancakes.

"So, what time is this thing?" Luke asked. Lorelai had told him about it last week and he knew she was going to drag him along.

"Doesn't matter," Charlie muttered around a mouth full. "Mom can't come."

"Oh," he said as he grabbed his coat. "Okay," he said as she finished up her breakfast and he grabbed her now filled lunch box. "Be back in 10 Caesar!" he called as he zipped Charlie up and helped her with her hat and mitts before he walked her to school. On the way back to the diner, Luke caught a glance at one of the posters advertising the little Christmas concert and he made a mental note about the time.

* * *

"I'm not going to make it," Lorelai said mournfully as she called later in the morning. "It's a zoo over here," she lamented as she explained all the happenings of the morning. "And, because we all know Sookie, when I had the menus printed, I had them add 'all dishes subject to last minute changes' at the bottom, just to cover all our bases. Well, apparently this wasn't good enough for this couple and everything just snowballed because Michel got involved and it just keeps getting bigger. I'm gonna have to stay here all day to keep them apart and keep them happy."

"It's okay," Luke said. "She'll understand.."

"Her first school play though! The only two school things you are never supposed to miss as a parent are the first and last and I'm breaking that rule!"

"It'll be fine," Luke said again. Lorelai moaned to him a while longer before signing off.

"They're back for blood this time. Probably," Lorelai had said before hanging up on him.

* * *

"I'm gonna be out for the next hour or so," Luke said as he again grabbed his coat and gloves and put them on. He jogged towards the school, already running a little late and slipped into the back of the gym, taking his hat off after a disgruntled older teacher shot him a disapproving look. When he saw the camera flashes start to go of, he wondered if he should have brought a camera, but he didn't dwell on it long Lorelai, as usual, had made all the costumes, so she had inevitably seen all of the performance at some point in time. He applauded at the end with the rest of the parents, kind of wondering what to do next. He was saved by the kindergarten teacher coming up on stage and announcing that the parents were all welcome to come back to the room for a little cast party.

"Hey," he said when he ran into Charlie. "You did real good," he said, fidgeting with his hat.

"Luke?" she asked. She had resigned herself to not having any one here.

"Yeah, sorry I got there late, the lunch rush went a little long and I had to stay and help Caesar and Lane."

"Charlie! Over here!" a little girl called to her just as she was about to thank Luke or coming.

"Come on!" she said with a big smile, grabbing Luke's hand and pulling him along behind her. "This is Megan and Sydney," she said with a smile. "This is Luke," she said. Megan and Sydney both looked up at him for a moment before they gave Charlie something.

"He runs the diner, right?" Megan asked after Luke had left to talk to their teacher.

"Owns it!" Charlie said proudly.

"He your dad?" Sydney asked.

"No. My dad lives in Boston with my little sister."

"Then why is he here?" Sydney asked. Charlie furrowed her brow as she thought about this for a moment. Her mom and Luke weren't really dating, she had asked but all Lorelai would say is that they were trying it.

"I don't know," Charlie finally answered. "Because my mom couldn't come I guess."

"Amanda's step dad never come to anything she does," Megan pointed out.

"Luke's not my step dad."

"Mom's boy friend?"

"Don't think so. He's just Luke. He always comes," she answered simply, not being able to remember anything she or Rory had done that Luke hadn't come to.

"Hmm," the other two girls had answered before running off to their parents.

* * *

"Why did you come?" Charlie asked Luke as she wandered back towards the diner after school was over.

"Because."

"Because mom couldn't come?"

"Because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about," he answered gruffly. Charlie looked up at him, squinting at the sun from under her hat. She smiled as she look ahead again. She had a feeling that he had come to see her and for no other reason than that.

"Okay," was all she answered as he opened the door for her and she snuck in under his arm.

"Go toss that stuff upstairs and then come back down."

"Why?"

"Just go," he said, nodding in the direction of the stairs. She looked at him for a moment before she did just that. When she came back down, Luke had left two donuts and a scoop of ice cream in a bowl for her. "I don't have cake," he whispered to her with a smile and a wink as he wandered off to start taking some orders.

* * *

**Charlie's 4 or 5.**

* * *

"How was school?" Lorelai asked as she picked her up.

"Why did dad go and get a new family?" she asked.

"Whoa, would have been nice if that question had signaled first," she said as she took Charlie's hand and headed towards the jeep. "You're dad married Sherry because he was ready to marry her."

"Why wasn't he ever ready to marry you?"

"He was Sweets," she said as she helped Charlie into the jeep. "I told him no."

"Why?"

"Because he only wanted to get married because we'd had a baby. First Rory and then you. He never wanted to get married because he loved me." Charlie waited as Lorelai shut the door and got into the driver seat. "We tried to be a family a few times, but he just wasn't ready."

"Did he marry Sherry because of Gigi?"

"Yes, I think so," she said as she headed in the direction of the Dragonfly.

"Why has he stayed?"

"What's with all the questions?" Lorelai finally asked. Charlie spilled out the days events and Lorelai was clenching the steering wheel in an effort not to start freaking out. She had lived in this town for 20 year, 20 YEARS! And they were still whispering behind her back about how she was an unwed mother and, in some circles, a slut who should never have kept Rory and Charlie. "Don't listen to them," she said. "Are you happy enough with your family?"

"I wish dad was around more, but yeah."

"Then that's all you need to know," Lorelai said as she parked at the Dragonfly and helped Charlie out. "Do you know why we bother them so much?" she asked Charlie as she swung her up onto her hip before sitting her on the reception desk.

"'Cause we're so pretty?"

"There is that," she said with a smile. "We bother them because we're different and we're not ashamed of that. We bother them because I haven't hid my mistakes from you or Rory or anyone else. This is why you have Heather Has Two Mommies and no one else in your class has read it." Charlie looked at her, still not really believing her.

"Does dad love Gigi more than me?" she finally asked.

"Absolutely not," Lorelai responded without hesitation. "Gigi just needs him more because she doesn't have me as her mother."

"They didn't like talking about Luke, either."

"He's not really your family, in the strictest sense of the word," Lorelai pointed out.

"But he's your boyfriend!" she said without giggling about it. "And he does all the stuff that other kids do with their dads. Why shouldn't I talk about him up?"

"That's good enough for me," she said as she picked Charlie up again and headed to the kitchen. "I think this day calls for some Sookie cake."

"It's been a busy day," Charlie agreed. "Family is complicated."

"But oh so worth it," Lorelai said as she gave Charlie a squeeze and a kiss, still trying to decide if she needed to have a word with the teacher or not.

"Hey Kitty Cats!" Sookie said happily when they walked into the kitchen. Charlie sighed and couldn't help but smile, Sookie made everything feel happy.

* * *

Lorelai spilled out the whole tale of woe to Luke and cried on his shoulder a little.

"It just kills me that she even questions how much he loves her! I mean, who the hell does that to a kid? What kind of parent makes their kid question how much they love them?" Luke just held her as she ranted, letting her get it all out because he knew that what he wanted to say wasn't what she wanted or needed to hear right now.

"Well," he finally said. "I guess we'll just have to make sure that she never questions us." She stopped her pacing and blinked at him a few times.

"How on earth did I stay away from you for so long?" she asked as she practically dove back into his arms.

"You're easily distracted by shiny things," he said casually. "And I don't wear a lot of shiny things."

"Must be it," she said with a giggle.

* * *

**Charlie's 5. She's 4 or 5 in a lot of these.**

* * *

They hadn't meant to get pregnant before the wedding, in fact, they had taken, or thought they had taken, every precaution to avoid that little possibility. But, here she was, 3 weeks before her wedding with another one of those stupid sticks in her hand with the pink staring back at her.

"Unbelievable!" she had muttered as she stared at it a little longer, willing it to change colour.

* * *

"So, remember that theoretical kid we've been talking about?" she asked Luke that night after Charlie was tucked in.

"Yes," he responded as he glanced over at her.

"Well, it's not so theoretical any more. Surprise!" she said with a bit of a forced smile. "You're supposed to say something," she prompted him.

"Wow," was all he good say, blinking a few times.

"Wow!" she said excitedly. "Or Wow," she said in disbelief.

"Can I pick one in the middle?" he asked. she made a face as they continued to stare at each other. "This is good," he said. "A little sudden, but good."

"Are you sure? You can still run screaming if you'd like."

"If I was going to, I would have done that before Charlie saw her 3rd birthday. Wow," he said again.

"Okay," she said with a nod as she sat down on the couch next to him. "Here's to the third time, hope it's a charm," she said with a sly smile that he couldn't help but return.

* * *

Unfortunately, while the pregnancy was going smoothly, Charlie had hit a rough patch.

"Again?" Lorelai asked when Charlie brought home another note about fighting on the play ground. Charlie shrugged and drew designs on the table top with her finger. Lorelai sighed and turned away from the box she had been unpacking to read the specifics in the note. "Charlie! They want to suspend you if you do this again! What were you thinking?" Lorelai demanded. Charlie shrugged again and Lorelai slammed the letter on the table. Charlie jumped a little. "Go to your room. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Luke will be in to talk to you when he gets home. Go!" she said when the 5 year old hesitated. Lorelai slammed around the kitchen a little longer, angry at Charlie for stepping out of line continually and angry at herself for not being able to get through to her. "Here," she said to Luke when he got home, thrusting the letter at him. He gave the bags of food to Lorelai before taking the note.

"Again?"

"Again," she said. "In school suspension. Next time, it's a three day out of school suspension. This has got to stop," she said. Charlie cracked her door open so she could hear the discussion.

"I know," he said. "I'm just not sure what to do about it. What haven't we taken away yet?" he asked.

"Food," Lorelai started. "Breathing, bathing, school. . . I think dance lessons are still being attended."

"Well, tell Patty that she won't be there any more tomorrow," he said with a sigh and shrug, reading the letter again.

"I told her you'd be in to talk to her."

"About what?" he asked tossing the letter on the table. "I don't know what else to say to her," he said. "She must have the lecture memorized from the last 4 times I've given it to her."

"Then give her another one!"

"There are only so many ways to say 'shape up and fly right or you'll never see the light of day again,'" he told her. They sighed as they looked at each other, each taking a moment to calm down. "I will try again," he told his wife, kissing her on the forehead and resting a hand on her now visibly pregnant belly. "And then we will eat." Charlie quickly closed her door and returned to her desk and her half finished homework. They all had to admit that if this string of misbehaviour was good for anything, it was bringing Charlie's grades up to a solid A+ average. Even if she was still in kindergarten. "Charlie," Luke said as he came in. She turned and they both looked at each other. "Why?"

"He was makin' fun of me."

"So you hit him?"

"Maybe," she grumbled. He sighed and sat down on her bed. When he had first started this, he made sure to sit her down so he could tower over her, like his father had done to him and Liz when they were kids. Now? He sat on the bed, to tired of all of this to put on a show.

"What's wrong?" he asked her as he pulled her over and onto his lap. She resisted so he knew he was doing the right thing. "What are you so angry about?"

"Nothing," she said, straining to try and get away from him.

"There has to be something," he said, holding her tighter to him. "You're not an angry kid, most of the time."

"Well I am now!" she shouted.

"Believe me, we've noticed," he said to her. "Would you. . . would you talk to Rory about this?" he finally asked her. They had offered her everyone else to talk to but Rory. He had high hopes that Rory would finally get things out of her. Charlie stopped her struggling as she considered this.

"Maybe," she finally admitted.

"Fine, we will call Rory after supper and see if she's free this weekend. You will behave until then or we will do this the hard way." Charlie nodded, she didn't exactly want to find out what the hard way was. "I brought dinner home," he said. "Let's go." Charlie bolted for the door and out of the room and Luke lingered for a moment. There were still packed boxes stacked up in her room and she hadn't put any of the pictures back up, hadn't even asked too. This worried him as well.

* * *

"What if talking to Rory doesn't work?" Lorelai asked him later that night. "What do we do then?"

"Find a shrink, I suppose," he said.

"You don't think . . . you don't think some one has been. . . "

"Absolutely not! Don't even suggest it!" Luke calmed down as he realized that she was simply grasping at straws to try and explain Charlie's personality shift and she had watched enough CSI on TV to want to suggest that maybe some one was abusing her. "Maybe it's just sibling rivalry," he suggested as he climbed into bed.

"Then why is she constantly asking me to feel the baby or asking questions? What about all the picture drawing and making up stories and everything? It doesn't make any sense," she said as she climbed in beside him. He sighed and agreed, it didn't make any sense.

* * *

Rory was more than willing to spend the weekend with Charlie, the whole weekend. She came down Friday after school and picked her up and was planning on brining her home late Sunday.

"Luke is gonna leave," she finally said to Rory early Saturday morning. They had been up watching movies and eating junk food all weekend. Rory knew that Charlie got chatty when she was tired, so she figured this was a pretty good plan. "Luke is gonna leave just like dad did," she said with a sniffle.

"Why would Luke do that?" Rory asked as she gathered Charlie into her arms.

"Because," was all she could come up with.

"Luke is not going to leave."

"Then he'll stop being my dad! He'll have his own kid, he won't need me any more!" she choked out, finally starting to really cry. Rory held her close and rocked her until she calmed down.

"Luke loves you. I wouldn't be surprised if he loves you more than dad does. Luke has been there your whole life!" Rory said. "Why would he spend all this time teaching you things and taking care of you if he was just going to pack it in when he had a baby with some one?"

"Because dad did. He did with you and he did with me and the only reason he didn't with Gigi was because Sherry left first," she got out again.

"Dad was 16 when I was born. He wasn't ready to be a dad like mom was ready to be a mom and with you? Same thing. He thought he was ready but he wasn't and the same thing happened with Sherry. Luke knows he's ready to be a dad because he was a dad for you and me before he and mom even started dating." Charlie sniffled a little more. "Do you believe me now?" she asked.

"I need to go home Rory," she said tearfully. "I need to go and say I'm sorry."

"We'll do it tomorrow," she said, still holding her little sister close. "Let's finish the movie and go to bed and then tomorrow we'll decide what to do, ok?"

"Okay," she said, making no effort to move out of her sisters arms.

* * *

Rory woke before Charlie the next morning and called home.

"She's worried Luke is gonna take off when the baby comes," she told her mother.

"Where the hell did she get that idea?"

"Look at her male role model," she said. "Every time he has a baby, he packs up and leaves town." Lorelai sighed and sat back in bed. "I think it's okay now. She wanted to drive home last night at 2 in the morning to start apologizing."

"You had her up until 2am?"

"3 actually, by the time the last movie was over."

"You're my hero," Lorelai said over the phone before she started to hum the 'The Wind Beneath My Wings'. Lorelai had been trying to get Charlie to stay up past 11 on movie nights since she was about 3 and had yet to succeed.

"I'll accept adulation in cash form," she said with a grin. "We'll be home some time this evening," she said.

"We'll be on the look out," Lorelai said as they said their good byes and hung up.

"That the diner?" Luke grumbled.

"Rory," she clarified as she put the phone on the table by the bed. This woke him up and he sat up straight beside her. "She's worried you're going to pack up and leave her. Like Chris did," she informed him. She watched his reaction and was glad he was sitting in bed at the moment.

"I swear to God. . . " he said. "I just want to. . . If he ever. . . " Lorelai put a hand on his leg and put her head on his shoulder.

"Don't bring him up," she said. "Rory's bringing her home later tonight, just let Charlie get it all out. She's like me, it has to all come out in a rush or it gets stuck." He let out another heavy sigh before throwing the covers off and stalking into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. She stayed under the covers for a while later before sliding out to go down stairs to make coffee and tea for the two of them.

* * *

Sure enough, just after 7, Rory's car pulled into the drive way and Charlie darted out and into the house and had soon snuggled herself into Luke's lap and was crying out an apology for all the bad things she had done and he just sat there and held her as it all came out.

"Are you done?" he asked her when she finally fell silent.

"Yes," she said, looking up at him.

"Next time you're worried about something, you come talk to me, even if you think it's silly, ok? You had us really worried that something serious was wrong," he told her as he wiped some of the tears away. She nodded and hung onto him a while longer as Lorelai invited Rory in for coffee in the kitchen.

"Good job," Lorelai told her.

"Hey, big sisters are for listening and commiserating with. I was just doing my job," she said with a smile and shrug.

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

**This one isn't really a Charlie scene, but, it's cute. I also realize that it's Marty. I jump between the two for Rory.**

* * *

'How lame is this?' Marty wondered as he headed towards Luke's Diner in Stars Hollow. 'Borrowing my girl friends car so I can ask her step father if I can marry her. Who the hell does something like this?' He swallowed hard as he realised that he was in front of the diner. He sat in the little Prius for another few minutes before he got out and strode into the diner. Several people said hello to him as he walked in. They remembered him as that nice boy Rory had been bringing home.

"Mr. Danes?" he asked when he got up to the counter.

"Hey Marty," Luke said before turning around to yell at Caesar about something. "What can I get you?"

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" he asked. Luke cocked an eye brow at him.

"I'd invite you upstairs, but Liam is sleeping." Marty noticed a well use used baby monitor clipped to Luke's belt. "Come on," he said as he led him into the store room. As the din of the diner died away, Marty realised how easy it would be for Luke, a much larger man then himself, to kill him or at least injure him without the rest of the diner knowing.

"Well, uh, as you know, I've been seeing Rory for quite some time now and with the two of us graduating from Yale I think now is a good time."

"A good time to what Marty?" Luke asked, crossing his arms over his chest and waiting. "I do have a diner to run."

"I want to marry Rory," he finally got out in a hurry. "I, I want your permission to marry Rory," he clarified and all Luke could do was drop his arms and get wide eyed.

"I'm not her father," he pointed out.

"She doesn't really talk about him," he explained, shoving his hands into his pockets. "She says you've always been there for her and her mom, even before you married her so, here I am. I want to marry your daughter. Please?" He was really starting to sweat now. Luke cast a critical eye over the boy, young man he corrected himself, in front of him.

"LUKE! LET'S GO!" Caesar yelled from the front.

"Yes Marty," he said finally as he left the store room. "If she'll have you, she's yours," he said. "Caesar, keep your shirt on!" he bellowed back and as Marty took a moment to breath a sigh of relief in the store room, he noticed that Luke Danes didn't look quite so imposing any more.

* * *

**Charlie's about a year old.**

* * *

"Hey," Luke said as Lorelai came into the Diner with Charlie.

"Hey," she said as she took a seat and let Charlie wander. They had come after Friday night diner and dropping Rory off at home to pack for her trip to Washington DC.

"What's wrong?" he asked her as he brought over a pot of coffee and a mug.

"Everything," she said as she accepted the coffee. "Chris showed up when Rory had her cast taken off and stuck around and, well, things happened and he said that he and Sherry were over and maybe we should try again. And things were fantastic for all of about 24 hours and then he's going back to her and Rory is leaving for the whole summer. . . " she said with a sigh as she shook her head.

"Why, if you don't mind, is he going back?" he asked as he headed to the counter. These conversations always went better when they weren't really looking at each other. He picked Charlie up just before she got to the counter.

"Sherry's called him at Sookie and Jackson's wedding." She hesitated. "She's pregnant and he doesn't want to miss it this time." Luke stayed quiet for a long moment as he formulated a response.

"I'm sorry," he said finally, keeping a level tone.

"Thanks," she said, playing with her coffee mug. Charlie, having grown tired of trying to play with Luke's cap decided to speak up.

"Mum," she said, pointing to Lorelai.

"That's mom," Luke confirmed with a small smile. Charlie smiled on her own, proud at having properly identified her mother.

"Go?" she asked and Luke complied, depositing some donuts to the table before sitting.

"Wallowing takes supplies," he volunteered quietly. "Why now?" he finally asked.

"Why now what?"

"Why is he going to take responsibility now? For this baby? Why not stay with you and Charlie and Rory?"

"Who knows," she said with a shrug. "Maybe because he knows Charlie doesn't really need him," she said, not looking at him as she gave Charlie some of the doughnut. Luke ignored the cakey death being passed to the almost toddler.

"Charlie does need him," he finally responded. "And so does Rory. They need their father in their lives and a phone call a week just doesn't really cut it." She tossed the half of the doughnut that Charlie hadn't taken back on the plate.

"I was so sure this time," she said, shifting the conversation to the left. "I was so sure we were ready. I mean, he had held the same job for almost a year and had been in a stable relationship for almost a year. . . He called Rory every Wednesday and when he couldn't, he sent her a lengthy email and left a message telling her that. He remembered to send them both Christmas presents and a little something on Valentine's Day . . . I was SO SURE," she said again.

"Look at it this way," Luke said. "At least you know he's going to be staying put in Boston. He's only a few hours away from them., hell, they could go spend weekends with him. These is still a bright side to this."

"I suppose," she said, picking at the doughnut again.

"Do you want anything else?" he asked. "Burger? Ice cream? You name it."

"A time machine," she said at once. "So I could go back and not agree to try again."

"I'll work on that," he said as he reached out to give her hand a squeeze.

"You do that. Maybe some fries?" she finally asked.

"You got it," he said as he handed Charlie to her and got up and headed for the back.

"Dada," Charlie said clearly as she pointed towards Luke's retreating back, glancing at Lorelai for confirmation. She quickly wiped her head around to see if Luke had noticed but he was still walking towards the kitchen.

"No, Luke," she corrected. Charlie's face fell a little as she puzzled this out. Charlie immediately asked the same question again and Lorelai gave her the same answer as she tried to figure out exactly how Charlie had connected the word dad to Luke. Luke hesitated in the kitchen for a moment, he had heard everything and he wasn't really sure what to do. When he heard Lorelai correct Charlie, he decided to let it go and he dropped some fries in the basket before lowering them into the oil. He peaked around the corner in time to see Charlie point in the direction of the kitchen and ask again and he quickly ducked back to watch the fries. He'd ignore this and let Lorelai get over the hurt while he tried to figure out what to do about Jess and Rory and his growing thing for her mother.

* * *

"You need to come home," Lorelai said as she called Rory.

"Why?"

"Other than the fact that I miss you? You need to help me deprogram your sister."

"Deprogram my sister," she said again, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Yes. She has gotten it in her pretty little head that Luke equals dad and I can't fix it."

"Really?" was all Rory could say as she closed the novel she had been reading. "When?"

"The first time? The Friday before you left for Washington."

"The first time?" Rory asked as she headed to her lap top. Maybe she could find something on the internet to help.

"Did I mention it was in the diner?"

"Wow. I miss everything," Rory said as she sat back in her chair to process this. "You mentioned that this occurred more than once?"

"Oh yeah. A couple of times as we walked past the diner. At least once at home when I mentioned him. . . Come home and help!" she begged as she watched the 14 month old toddle around the living room.

"I can't," she said. "I have 2 more weeks here."

"Rory!" she whined.

"Mom!" Rory responded.

"Charlie, come say hi to Rory," Lorelai called out to Charlie. She wandered over, falling a couple of times along the way.

"Hi Charlie!" Rory said with a smile.

"Hi," Charlie responded.

"I miss you," Rory said.

"I think she misses you too," Lorelai responded. Charlie had exhausted her vocabulary and had moved on to find something to play with.

"Good. See you guys in two weeks."

"See you in two weeks," Lorelai agreed as they hung up. She stared at the phone for a moment before tossing it on the couch beside her. "Charlie?" she called out. "Luke?" she asked.

"Dada!" she said as she moved from the toys to a book she found on the floor. Lorelai sighed and rubbed her forehead. She was never going to be able to set foot in Luke's until Charlie was 3.

* * *

"Hey, you seen Lorelai?" Luke asked Babette and Patty as he filled their coffee mugs.

"All the time," Babette said. "We introduced Charlie to my gnomes yesterday."

"I saw her in town the day before last," Patty said.

"So they're ok?" he asked.

"Of course they are!" Babette said. "Why you askin' sugah?"

"Just asking," he said as he headed off to tend to other customers.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Sookie asked when Lorelai came into the kitchen at the Inn.

"Reading. Coffee?"

"Reading what?" she asked as she handed her a cup.

"Hypnosis," she said calmly.

"Still haven't fixed that problem, have you?" Sookie asked.

"No," she said with a sigh. "I'm starving Sookie!" she complained. "I haven't been to Luke's in 4 weeks. If I eat anything else from Al's, I may fall over and die!"

"So dramatic," Sookie said with a smile as she pushed a plate of fruit in front of Lorelai. Lorelai sighed as she took a seat on a stool after taking the baby monitor off of her waist.

"How do you reason with a 1 year old?" she asked as she picked up a strawberry.

"Very poorly?"

"I have tried everything," she said emphatically. "For a week and a half I pointed to a picture of Chris every time she said dad. And then I stopped saying 'Luke', hoping that she would forget. I tried bribing rewarding her every time she pointed to Chris' picture and says dad. . . I'm out of ideas," she said.

"Does Luke know?"

"No, at least I hope not," she said.

"So you don't know for sure? Maybe you're just over reacting," she said rather dismissively.

"Maybe," she finally conceded. "This book isn't very interesting anyways," she said, taking another strawberry before grabbing her book and the monitor and heading back out to the desk.

Lorelai headed back to her office and sat heavily behind her desk. She turned the monitor off and cast a glance at Charlie who was still sleeping soundly in the small cot beside the desk.

She sighed and tossed her book on to one of the chairs in the room and started in on some of the paper work she had to do.

* * *

"I think I fixed it," Lorelai told Rory a week later.

"Really? She's cured?" Rory said with a smile as she tapped a pen on the pad of paper in front of her.

"Well, sort of," she said. "How mad do you think he'd be if 'Duke' made a come back?"

"Seriously?" Rory asked, dropping her pen when she heard that.

"I don't really know how it happened. Some where between 'dada' and 'No, it's Luke!' 'Duke' made an appearance."

"Well," Rory said as she thought about it for a moment. "Maybe it will be okay. Maybe he'll just accept it. I mean, baby's, sorry, toddlers, substitute letters and sounds all the time. Mom?" Rory asked after all she heard was some sighing.

"Can I quote you?"

"Sure. Go to Luke's mom, before he starts worrying."

"Why would he worry?"

"We go there every day. Don't you think he'd worry a little if we were gone without any notice for an extended period of time?"

"Possibly," Lorelai admitted. "Charlie, food at Luke's?"

"Duke!" Charlie said as she headed over to Lorelai. Rory snickered a little.

"Have fun," she said.

"See you in a week."

"See you in a week," Rory agreed, hanging up the phone and turning her attention back to her half finished letter to Jess. She didn't really know how she felt about him, especially after she saw him and kissed him, at Sookie's wedding. She sighed as she finally put pen to paper and forced herself to write to him.

* * *

"Where have you been?" Luke demanded when Lorelai and Charlie came into the diner later that evening.

"We decided to see the world?" she asked, trying to seem like he was the one flipping out.

"I haven't seen you in here in a month, since Rory left town! The only place I've seen you is when you're walking around town."

"Hey," she said as she put Charlie in the high chair. "We are popular people," she said as she sat herself down.

"Right," he said with a sigh. "You ordering?"

"Turkey on White for her."

"So just the meat and cheese?"

"Mmm . . . maybe some cucumber too," she said. "And apple juice?"

"And for you?"

"Burger. Extra cheese, side of fries and coffee."

"Comin' right up," he said as he headed to the kitchen. Lorelai watched him go and she sighed as she slumped into the chair.

"You are stressful!" she told Charlie as she gave her mom a look and pointed towards her bag. Lorelai complied and removed a couple of toys as Luke brought out the drinks.

"Thanks Luke," she said without really thinking.

"Duke!" Charlie chimed in. Lorelai cringed when she heard this.

"Lorelai!" Luke complained as he came back over to the table.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" she finally blurted out.

"What do you mean you didn't do it on purpose?" he asked. That had definitely not been what he had expected to hear. Lorelai sighed and hung her head for a moment. "Come on," he said, waiting for an explanation. She quickly spilled out the whole story without looking at him.

"So that's why we stayed away. I was really hoping avoidance would curb the habit and when that didn't work, I went back to correcting and some where along the way 'Duke' was born. I'm sorry," she said as she finally looked up at him.

"Luke," he said as he bent down to Charlie's level.

"Duke," she replied with a smile as she took a drink.

"Hmmm," was all he could say as he headed back to the kitchen. Lorelai breathed a sigh of relief and pulled her coffee cup towards her.

"Thank God you're so cute," she said to Charlie before she took a drink.

"I knew about the whole 'dada' thing," he whispered to her as he dropped off the food.

"Aah!" she said in disbelief. "And you let me freak out for an entire month about it?"

"I didn't know what you were doing. You freak out about lots of things."

"You could have said something. A little 'Oh, hey, I don't mind' would have been great."

"Oh, hey, I don't mind," he said.

"Go away ," she said as she shook her head. Luke chuckled as he wandered back to the counter.

* * *

**Charlie's 4 in this one.**

* * *

"What does this say?" Charlie asked as she pointed to something on Luke's menu.

"Large," Luke replied as he peaked at the word as he rushed past to deliver the plates he was carrying.

"What about this one?" she asked as he rushed back to the kitchen.

"Platter."

"You sell platters?" she asked as he filled some glasses.

"It's a double serving of fries," he said as he took the glasses to a table.

"Oh. What does this say?"

"What is this all about?" he asked as he stopped in front of her for a moment.

"I'm reading," she said with a smile.

"You're asking a long stream of questions while pointing to words." Charlie frowned.

"Fine," she said as she slammed the menu closed. "Peanut Butter and jam," she said with a sigh.

"Crusts?"

"No. And cut into little triangles."

"The work . . ." he smirked as he put a glass of milk in front of her before going to make the sandwich.

* * *

"You have got to teach her to read," Luke said when he got home later that evening.

"She's 4 Luke."

"And driving me up the wall. Of course she has your sense of timing so she only starts this during a rush," he pointed out as he headed to the kitchen.

Lorelai chuckled from her position on the couch. "I say again, she's 4."

"When did Rory learn to read?"

"At about 4. But she taught herself. As I cleaned rooms, she used the Closed Captioning on the TV. So, out of curiosity, do you have any suggestions as to how to teach her to read?"

"I don't know," he said as he came out from the kitchen, pan in hand. "You've done this once before."

"Ya, hi, did you just have a stroke and forget the little story about Closed Captioning I just told you?"

"What about those books? Those fake text books you can buy from Andrew?"

"Are you ready to devote hours to doing all the stupid activities in the books?"

"Ugh," he said as he went back into the kitchen, dropping the pan on the stove a little harder than normal.

"Just read more to her," she said. "Instead of telling her to save it for bed time."

"I'm not a big reader," he called to her as he slammed through the fridge.

"Well, she's like Rory, she's gonna be a reader and nothing in this universe can stop that from happening."

"Why doesn't she harass you about things like this when you're busy?"

"Because I give her a running play by play about everything that I'm doing and when we're in my office, I ready any piece of paper in there that she puts in front of me."

"You make sure she gets a hold of things like budget forms, don't you?"

"Depending on how busy I am? Yes, yes I do," she answered with a bit of a smile as she finally pulled herself up off the couch and headed to the kitchen.

* * *

"Hey Babe, whatca doin'?" she asked as she peaked into Rory and Charlie's room.

"Is this a good book?" Charlie asked as she held up one of Rory's.

"The Fountain Head? No, put it down and walk away until your about 20. I thought you were still working on Bearenstein Bears?"

"I want something new," she said as she put the book back and closed the dresser drawer.

"Library tomorrow?" she asked.

"Okay," she said as she looked up at the books on Rory's shelf. "What about that one?" she asked. "It has my name on it!" she said as she pointed to it. Lorelai came into the room and scanned the titles.

"Charlotte's Web," she said fondly. "Rory named you after reading that book."

"Really?"

"Yep," she said as she took it down off the shelf. "This was the first chapter book I ever bought your sister and I have replaced it . . . probably ever 2 years since then."

"I wanna read it," she said, looking up at Lorelai.

"A lot of words," she said as she sat down on Rory's bed. Charlie climbed up next to her.

"Please?" she asked.

"Chapter 1, Before Breakfast," Lorelai said as she scooted back on the bed and Charlie smiled as she scrambled up to join her. "'Where's Papa going with that axe?' said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast." Lorelai read as Charlie settled against her side. Luke paused in his cooking to listen for a moment and he smiled as her voice began to change as she read each character.

"Dinner," Luke said after a while, interrupting the reading. Two sets of identical blue eyes turned to look at him.

"5 more minutes?" Charlie asked.

"Okay," he said as he went and adjusted the temperature on the stove and came back into the bed room and sat in the chair in Rory's room. "Keep going," he said as he got comfortable. Lorelai grinned at him before finding her place again.

"No-no-no!" said the goose. 'It's the old pail trick, Wilbur. Don't fall for it, don't fall for it! He's trying to lure you back into captivity-ivity. He's appealing to your stomach." Lorelai read and Luke couldn't help but grin as he listened to her go on. "Ok, end of chapter and I'm hungry, let's go."

"When do we get to Charlotte?" she asked as she crawled off the bed and headed to the kitchen.

"End of the next chapter I believe," she said as she left the book on the dresser and followed Charlie out.

* * *

"I think I'm going to have to buy another copy of that book," she said as she dropped onto the couch beside Luke.

"Really into it?"

"New favourite book," she confirmed. He chuckled as he put an arm around her.

"We're going to be reading a lot of Charlotte's Web, aren't we?"

"I would imagine so."

"That's fine," he said. "I think Rory read it to me once," he said with a sly smile.

Lorelai couldn't help but smile in return

* * *

"Again?" Luke asked as Charlie held the battered book out to him.

"Please?" she asked. "No one but us and Kirk," she said as she pushed the book towards him. Luke watched her for a moment before he sighed, grabbed the book from her and headed towards the table in the back. Charlie smiled as she quickly slid off of the stool and ran after him, quickly climbing up into his lap. "Start here," she said as she flipped to chapter five. Luke sighed.

'The night seemed long. Wilbur's stomach was empty and his mind was full,' he read. "What are you doing?" he asked when she started to follow along with her finger.

"Keep going," was all she said, her finger hesitating under the last word he had stopped under.

"Have you got this memorized yet?"

"No. Keep reading Luke!"

"You read it," he said patiently. She hesitated and looked up at him. "Go on," he nodded.

"And when your stom. . . ach, stomach, is empty and your mind is full, it's always hard to sleep," she said slowly. "Hey!" she said excitedly.

"Now all you have to do is start reading something else," he said with a smile. "Keep going," he nudged her as he sat back and listened for a change.

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

**Charlie's 3.5 years**

* * *

"Hey kid, how goes the Ivy league?" Lorelai asked over the phone.

"Very Ivy covered," she said as she looked up from her notes.

"What's up?" she asked.

"It's that time," she said with a smile.

"Hammertime?" Rory asked as she got up and headed to the mini fridge in the common room.

"No, Charlie is three and a half."

"Movie theatre!" Rory squealed.

"Exactly!" she said. "Can you come?"

"Wild horses couldn't stop me!" she said excitedly.

"Excellent," Lorelai said. "The hard choice is picking one. I mean, Black, White and Read is showing Star Trek Four and in Woodbridge, the Mega Plex is showing at least 6 that I wouldn't mind seeing."

"Nix the Star Trek," she said automatically. "Is Luke coming?"

"Why would Luke come?" Lorelai asked quickly. Things had been slightly awkward since that kiss in the diner a few weeks ago.

"Because. . . normally this is the kind of thing you'd invite Luke to."

"He's busy," she said quickly. "So, home town movie or Mega Plex?" she asked trying to redirect the conversation. Rory pulled the phone away from her ear and frowned at it before putting it back up to her ear.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Nothing, nothing is going on," Lorelai said.

"Liar," Rory insisted. "Are you and Luke fighting?"

"Rory," she drew out.

"Mom," Rory did the same.

"I don't want to talk about it, ok?" she said. "Back to the movie situation." Rory sighed as she considered pushing for a moment longer.

"Fine, tell me what's playing," she said with a sigh.

"Oh! The Incredibles!" Rory gushed when Lorelai read it off.

"The Incredibles it is," she said. "Meet us there at noon?"

"With bells on," Rory said.

"See ya then," Lorelai said as she signed off.

"See ya!" Rory said as she hung up and went back to her studying. Lorelai sighed a little as she hung up her cell phone and glanced around the partially finished Dragonfly. She had tried to bury the Luke incident, but it kept rearing it's ugly head.

* * *

"Hello?" Lorelai called as she wandered into the Gilmore mansion. "Where is everyone?"

"Over here, Lorelai," Emily called.

"Where's Charlie?" she asked.

"Mmmm?" Emily asked, not looking up from her book.

"Charlie, mom. Charlotte. About 3 feet tall, dark brown hair, bright blue eyes, has issues with the letter R?"

"I know my granddaughter, Lorelai," she said as she finished the page and put down her book. "She's in the yard."

"Where in the yard mom? CHARLIE!" she yelled out as she stalked out into the yard. "CHARLIE!" she called out again.

"Lorelai, relax. The yard is fenced, she's can't go far."

"She's a smart kid mom, she can unlatch a gate. CHARLOTTE ABIGAIL! RIGHT NOW!" she yelled again as she stood in the middle of the yard, starting to panic.

"CHARLIE!" she called as she dashed into the house.

"I'm here!" Charlie called as she ran down the stair case, her 'r' sounding more like a ''w'. "I had to pee," she said as she threw her arms around Lorelai. "Don't worry."

"I'm ok," she said as she picked Charlie up and held her tight. "I wasn't worried at all." Charlie giggled a little and hugged her mom.

"I'll leave a note next time."

"You can barely write your name," she said with a smile.

"Oh," she said with a giggle. "I forgot." Lorelai smiled and shook her head.

"Did you have a good time?" Emily asked.

"Yes," Charlie said with a smile. "Lots of fun with you and Grandpa," she said.

"Excellent, I look forward to having you again," Emily said with a smile. "Richard! Come say good bye!" Emily called as she grabbed Charlie's bag from the kitchen.

"Already?" Richard asked as he came out of his study. "Well, I hope you come again soon," he said.

"I will," Charlie assured him as she leaned out of her mothers arms and into his. Lorelai smiled a little as she watched this. She was glad that they were on good enough terms that Charlie could get to know her grandparents while she was young like this.

"Oh, before I forget," Richard said, heading into the study with Charlie. "I have something for you," he said.

"Oh boy!" Charlie said with a giggle.

"He really likes her," Lorelai commented as she accepted Charlie's still wet snow pants and mitts from the maid.

"He does," Emily said with a smile. "Her and Rory."

"Grandpa gave me a new book!" she said as she came tearing out of the study to show her mother.

"Winnie the Pooh, fantastic," Lorelai said. "Did you say thank you?" she whispered to Charlie.

"I did," she whispered back.

"Good. We should go then," she said as she took Charlie's bag from Emily. They said their good byes as Lorelai got Charlie dressed in her winter coat and hat and headed to the jeep as Charlie spilled out all her adventures to Lorelai. "Do you know what tomorrow is?" Lorelai asked as they drove along.

"December first?" Charlie asked.

"Exactly! Your half birthday. That means your first official trip to a movie theatre."

"I've been to Black, White and Read," she said after a moment, not really understanding her mothers enthusiasm.

"No, the Mega Plex in Woodbridge," she said with a smile as she glanced back at Charlie while they were stopped at a red light.

"Wow!" Charlie said excitedly. "We can't talk in there, can we?"

"Of course we can, we just can't be as loud as we usually are," she reasoned as she started to drive again.

"Is Rory comin'?"

"Of course she is! Wild horses couldn't keep her away babe."

"What are we gonna see?"

"It's a surprise," Lorelai said with a grin as she pulled out her cell phone and dialled Rory's number. "Here," she said as she held her phone out behind her to Charlie. "See what Rory is up to." Charlie grabbed the phone and kicked her feet a little as she waited for Rory to pick up.

"Hello?"

"RORY!" Charlie squealed.

"Hey sister of mine!" Rory said as she put down her pen. "What's up?" Charlie frowned for a moment.

"Why am I calling mom?"

"What's Rory up to?" she asked. The conversation carried on like this for some time with Charlie acting as nothing more than a go between for Rory and Lorelai.

"Does Rory want visitors?" Lorelai asked.

"Do you want visitors?" Charlie relayed.

"Sure, come on down," Rory said. Charlie related the message to Lorelai and she quickly headed in the direction of New Haven. Charlie grinned as she chatted with Rory a little longer before she hung up and enjoyed the rest of the ride.

* * *

"Rory! Rory! Rory!" Charlie called out as she ran a head of Lorelai towards Rory's dorm room. Lorelai quickly jogged off after Charlie, reigning her in.

"There are kids trying to study, you have to keep it down," she reminded Charlie as she got a hold of her hand.

"Sorry," Charlie replied as she slowed to a walk.

"Was I summoned?" Rory asked, poking her head out of her door.

"Rory!" Charlie exclaimed as she launched herself at her big sister. "Missed you."

"I missed you too," she said as she hugged her before releasing her to hug Lorelai. "Welcome to Yale stranger," she said to Lorelai.

"Is everyone here?" she asked as she headed in.

"Oh yeah, get ready," she said as she opened the door to let them in.

"Wow," Lorelai said when she saw what they had walked into. Janet and Paris were battling it out in the middle of the room while Tanna divided her attention between C-span and the fight in front of her. Charlie walked a little further into the room, pushing past her mother to get a better look at the battle in the middle of the room.

"Who's winning?" Rory asked Tanna.

"What? Oh. Stalemate. Again," she replied, turning her attention back to the fight. Rory rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Come on," she said as she led her mother and her sister to the room she and Paris shared as she headed over to her desk. She opened one of the drawers and pulled out a white board. She quickly made another mark on it. "Round 237," Rory clarified before putting the white board back in the drawer.

The three Gilmore's hung around in Rory's room until the common room fell silent and Paris stormed into the room. She caught a glance of the Gilmore's and then launched into a long winded, semi G rated rant about Janet and her boyfriend.

"Paris!" Rory finally called to her. "I don't want to hear this, my mother doesn't want to hear it and my sister probably shouldn't hear it." Paris stopped mid rant to look at who exactly she was complaining to.

"Oh, right," she said as she headed to her desk to start working.

"We should probably go," Rory said. "Dinner?"

"My treat," Lorelai said with a smile as she grabbed Charlie's hand and they headed out to the big wide world.

* * *

"Today was good," Rory said quickly as they drove back to Yale, Charlie asleep in the back seat.

"It was. She really misses you, I really miss you," Lorelai said.

"Only a few more months," Rory said, patting Lorelai on the knee as they came to a stop in front of Rory's dorm.

"See you tomorrow?"

"See ya tomorrow," she said. "Kiss Charlie good night for me," she added as she jumped out and ran into the dorm.

* * *

"Happy half birthday little girl," Lorelai muttered as she pulled Charlie closer to her. After a nightmare, Charlie had crawled in with Lorelai around midnight and now that it was 2:07, Lorelai was awake.

"Mom?"

"Happy half birthday," she whispered again as she kissed Charlie.

"Oh," she said as she rolled over and pressed her face into Lorelai's neck.

"Go back to sleep," Lorelai muttered as she stroked Charlie's hair while watching the snow fall outside the window.

* * *

"Snow," Charlie muttered as she pressed her nose up against the window in Lorelai's bedroom. Lorelai snickered as she watched Charlie try to force herself through the glass.

"Come back to bed," Lorelai said. "We need to plan," she said. Charlie took one last look outside and quickly ran back over and jumped in the bed, snuggling under the covers.

"So," Lorelai said. "I say we have a breakfast of Pop Tarts, marshmallows and Cream Soda before we head out to play in the snow."

"Good," Charlie said with a nod.

"And then I think that once we are all cold and wet, we should head to Luke's for hot chocolate, cheese burgers and doughnuts."

"Yum!" she said again.

"By then, we should have time to head home and change and head to the inn for a while, make sure Michel has everything under control. Home to change again, for tonight, and then off to Woodbridge, Rory will meet us there."

"You're the best mom ever," Charlie said with a large smile, snuggling in tighter against Lorelai.

"As much as I love this mommy and me time, if we hang around here much longer, we're going to have to revise our schedule." Charlie quickly jumped out of bed, pulling Lorelai along with her in her attempt to start the day as soon as possible.

"You're both soaked," Luke said with a frown when Lorelai and Charlie came into the diner that afternoon. Charlie spilled out the events of the day so far as Lorelai started to peel layers off of her and toss them on to an empty chair. "I have a dryer in the back room," he pointed out.

"Oh, excellent," she said as he bundled up all of Charlie's things and headed to the back while she climbed onto a chair and ordered for them.

"2 Cheese burgers, 2 hot chocolates, 2 fries, 4 doughnuts and one coffee," she said with a smile.

"Death on a plate," Luke said as he jotted everything down.

"It's my half birthday," Charlie said with a smile.

"Happy half birthday," Luke whispered to her as he leaned close. "No more comments on the food," he said as he headed to the back.

"Half birthdays are great," she said to herself as Luke brought over the hot chocolates.

* * *

"Wow," Charlie said, hanging on tightly to her soda as she looked up at all the rows of seats in the theatre. Lorelai pointed to a row of seats and followed Charlie up, Rory trailing behind. After they had sat down, all the pop corn, red vines and other candy was distributed between them as they waited for the movie to start. About halfway through, Charlie crawled onto Lorelai's lap and was asleep 10 minutes before the end of the movie.

"You didn't make it through your first movie either," Lorelai told Rory as they bundled up and headed out of the theatre.

"It takes years to build up stamina," Rory said with a shrug. "It's perfectly acceptable to fall asleep before the end of your first semi-late movie theatre experience."

"Well, now that we have your approval," Lorelai joked as they headed out to their separate cars.

"I'll see you on Friday," Rory said as she hugged Lorelai.

"See you on Friday," she said.

"Mom?" Charlie muttered as Lorelai strapped her into the booster seat.

"Yeah kiddo?"

"This was a good birthday."

"Really good," she said as she slipped out of the back seat and got into the drivers seat.

* * *

**Ok. Ky dared me to use the phrase "I'm as single as a Jew in Utah". And make Charlie say it. She's about 3**

* * *

She had heard her mother say it about a week ago and it had been rattling around inside her pretty little head ever since. She shouldn't have heard it, she wasn't even supposed to be up, but she couldn't sleep and Rory was away at college so she did what she always did when she couldn't sleep, she cracked her bedroom door open and sat beside it, listening to her mother talk on the phone.

"And invite who, exactly to go with me Rory? I'm as single as a Jew in Utah," Lorelai had said, rather frustrated that her eldest didn't sympathise with her. Emily had it in her head that Lorelai needed to bring a date to this dinner she was hosting and she was as single as single could be right now.

"Mom!" Rory had admonished after hearing that little gem.

"Well it's true!" Lorelai shot back as she giggled a little at the image. It turned into an all out laughter hewn Rory started to giggle as well.

"Single as a Jew in Utah," Lorelai muttered to herself with a shake of her head when they had hung up. She'd have to remember that.

* * *

The evening had started out well enough, Friday night diner had been canceled. Richard was out of town and Emily had insisted on having diner in Stars Hollow this time. As the four of them, Lorelai, Rory, Emily and Charlie sat around a table in Luke's, conversation fell to the romantic lives, or lack there of, of the Gilmore Girls. Valentine's day was approaching and Emily just HAD to know if any of the girls had plans.

"And what about you Charlie? Any one special?" Emily had asked with a smile.

"Oh Grandma," she had giggled. "I'm as single as a Jew in Utah." Charlie watched as Rory buried her head in her hands, Lorelai tried not to laugh and Emily just looked horrified.

"You!" Emily had said, immediately turning behind her to point a finger at Luke. Luke stopped laughing as he realised he was about to be pegged the responsible party for Charlie's comment.

"Now wait just a minute!" Luke said as he came out form behind the counter to defend himself.

"Mom, it wasn't him," Lorelai said, quickly getting a hold of her self.

"I told you something like this was going to happen eventually!" Rory called to her mother as she too jumped to Luke's defence. Charlie sighed and rested her elbows on the table. She was going to get in trouble for this and she might as well just sit quietly and stay out of the way while the adults duked it out.

"MOM!" Lorelai finally yelled and Charlie jumped a little. It had been a long time since she'd heard her mother yell. "Charlie must have heard me say it. I said it to Rory the other night." Emily paused, finger still in mid air, pointing at Luke who was standing with his palms pressed flat against the counter.

"Lorelai! Why on earth would you say something like that around a 3 year old?"

"I didn't realise she was listening! She had been in bed for an hour and I was on the phone with Rory. . ."

"You said that to Rory?!?"

"She's 19, she's a big girl now mom," Lorelai said again. Emily floundered for something to say for a moment before she offered Luke a brief apology and left the diner. Charlie tried to disappear into her chair as the adults in the room turned their attention to her.

"Oops?" was all Charlie offered. She began to chew on her bottom lip when she saw Luke turn away from her. "Hey!" she eventually said when she realised that Luke had started to chuckle about it again.

"You really said that?" he asked Lorelai. She grinned and laughed as she admitted to it and Rory couldn't help but join in.

"Does this mean I'm not gonna be in trouble when we get home?" Charlie called out from her seat. When she got no response from the adults, she went back to sulking.

* * *

**A little what-if scene that demanded to be written. Charlie's a few weeks old.**

* * *

Luke crept into the house quietly, easing the door shut behind him. He leaned against the wall as he slipped his shoes off, putting them neatly by the door as opposed to scattered haphazardly like Rory and Lorelai did when they got in. He crept into the living room and grinned a little when he saw the TV still on, volume muted. He was a little surprised when he peaked over the back of the couch and there was no one asleep there. He turned off the TV and headed towards Rory room. He caught a glance of the time, 11:04, later than he had meant to come home, but such is the life of a business owner.

"Hey," he said quietly when he saw Rory, still sitting at her desk, working on something.

"Hey," she said with a bit of a smile.

"It's late," he said, leaning against the door frame.

"I'm almost done," she said with a yawn. "I have 2 more pages to read." Luke looked at her for a long moment. The 16 year old never had just 2 more pages to read. "Really," she said. "Go, let me finish," she said as she turned back to her work. He shook his head and turned out the light in the kitchen as he headed upstairs, taking off his flannel shirt as he did. He tossed it over the back of a chair in the master bedroom before he grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. He glanced at Lorelai who was dead to the world and peaked in at Charlie. At a few weeks old, the baby was nearly always dead to the world as far as he could tell.

As he headed to the bath room and turned on the shower, he considered how quickly things could change in a few months. Lorelai had come crying to him about the mess she had gotten herself into with Christopher a few days after she had found out she was pregnant and, somewhere along the way, they had become inseparable. Both she and Rory had been unable to get a hold of him and Luke had stepped up in his place. He wasn't sure why he had done it, but he had, They had official become an item shortly before Christopher had shown up, unannounced, in town and when Christopher caught wind of this, well, it hadn't been pretty. Luke shook his head as he climbed into the shower, going through the motions quickly, wanting nothing more than to fall into bed next to Lorelai for a few hours before Charlie woke and demanded attention.

He stepped out soon after, shivering a little as the water on his body began to cool off. He towelled quickly and just after pulling his pants on, he heard the tell tale sound of Charlie beginning to stir.

"Hey, hey," he said quietly to her as he rushed over to the crib, scooping her up before she really woke up. He handled the new born gently, still slightly in awe of the fact that he could hold her whole body in just his two hands. "Give your mom a few more minutes," he said as he cradled the baby against his bare chest. He held her for a moment, rubbing her back as he willed her back to sleep before he grabbed a blanket out of the crib and settled himself in the rocking chair that had replaced the chair in the corner of the room.

"You old softy," he heard a quiet voice mutter from the bed. He turned slightly to see Lorelai awake, kind of, rubbing sleepily at an eye as she took in the scene before her.

"Go back to sleep," he muttered.

"Can't," she said. "I'm hard wired to her schedule now." He sighed and eventually got up from the chair and padded over to the bed. He handed her the baby before he headed back in to the bathroom to grab his shirt. He threw it over his head as he walked back in and climbed into bed next to her.

"What a difference a year makes, huh?" he asked as he rested a hand on the baby's head and kissed Lorelai on the forehead, indulging in the quiet moment they were all having.

"But a good difference," she said with a smile as Charlie began to nurse contentedly. He nodded and put an arm around her shoulder as she shifted her body against his, finding a more comfortable position.

* * *

**Charlie is most definitely 2. There is a HIGH possibility that this will make it into season 3 or 4 of Da Capo Al Fine**

* * *

"What the hell is going on over there?" Luke called into the phone.

"That would be Charlie reminding us all that yes, she is two years old," Lorelai said. "Can I order?"

"Why aren't you doing something about it?" he asked, ignoring her request to order. Lorelai rolled her eyes.

"Because I am out of ideas. She has been at this for the last hour and shows no signs of stopping. Want to hear the fun part? She's upstairs. In her crib, in my room, with the door closed. Us Gilmore Girls, we have good lungs. Can I PLEASE order?"

"Are you sure she's okay? She' s not hurt?"

"Luke, she's fine. She's having the mother of all tantrums, but she's fine. I would imagine that she's over tired and frustrated because she can't get across to me what she wants." The pair fell into silence.

"Well, " he said, breaking the silence. "Are you going to order?" Lorelai shook her head before she did just that. "I'll bring it over in about 10 minutes," he said before they hung up. Lorelai sighed as she listened to Charlie screaming bloody murder upstairs. She trudged her way up and opened the door. Charlie calmed slightly when she saw her.

"Are you done yet?" Lorelai asked, standing in the door way. Charlie sniffled a few times but didn't answer. "If you want out, you have to be done. Are you done?"

"NO!" Charlie hollered back. "NO, NO NO NO NO!"

"See ya later then," she said as Charlie began screaming again and she closed the door and headed down stairs. She stood in the living room for a moment before she grabbed the phone and headed out to sit on the front porch. She left the door open just in case as she waited for Luke to show up.

"She's still at it?" Luke asked when he arrived in her yard, a couple of bags in his hands.

"Of course. We are nothing, if not dedicated," she said with an eye roll as she accepted the food from him. "Go check on her if it will make you feel better," she said when she saw him eyeing the door. They both headed inside, Lorelai going to the kitchen as Luke headed up the stairs.

"Hey," he said gruffly when he opened the bedroom door. Charlie stopped mid screech when she saw him in the doorway. "Why are you so angry, huh?" he asked her as he came into the room slowly. He picked up a receiving blanket from the floor, obviously one Charlie had pitched out of the crib during her tantrum. "What's wrong?" he asked her again as he used the blanket to wipe her nose and dry the tears. Charlie sniffled and pouted, her bottom lip jutting way out as she simply stared at him. "Are you done?"

"No," she said, her breath hitching a few times.

"Mostly done?"

"Yes." He picked her up out of the crib and held the toddler for a moment. They stared at each other, Charlie still pouting, as he reached into the crib and found her blankie and a pacifier that she hadn't pitched across the room.

"Here," he said as he handed her the pacifier and tossed the blankie over his shoulder. "I think you should have a rest," he said as he put some gentle pressure on the back of her head, to make her relax against him.

"No," she replied around the pacifier, though she did do what he wanted her to.

"Okay, don't then," he said quietly as he picked a few more items up off the floor as he headed for the door.

"You are one complicated man, Luke Danes," Lorelai said with a shake of her head when she saw Luke come into the kitchen, Charlie asleep on his shoulder. "Ever going to tell me your secret?"

"Not a chance," he said as he took a seat at the table with her, pulling out a sandwich he had packed for himself. After hearing Charlie over the phone, he had a feeling he'd be sticking around for a while.

"And to think, I used to be worried about being a single parent again," she remarked casually. He smiled a little as they fell into an easy conversation over lunch.

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

**Charlie's 2.**

* * *

Emily's brow furrowed slightly as she watched the rather despondent 2 year old playing on the floor. Lorelai and Rory had been in Europe for just over a month and Charlie had begun to notice that they weren't coming to get her any time soon.

"Gamma?"

"Yes Charlie?" she asked, snapping back to the real world when she heard Charlie and felt her little hand on her knee.

"Go home?" she asked, almost pleadingly.

"No one's home," she told the little girl, smoothing her hair down. Emily watched as Charlie's brow furrowed as she puzzled this out. Until recently, every other time she had asked to go home, she was given the reply of 'soon' and eventually her mother showed up to get her.

"Pease go home?" she asked, clasping her hands in front of her and looking up pleadingly at her grandmother. Emily pushed her day planer away from her and picked Charlie up, sitting her in her lap.

"Your mother and Rory are still away," she told the little girl. "No one is home at your house."

"Duke?" Charlie asked hopefully, turning to look at her grandmother.

"Tomorrow," she said with a sigh. "We will spend the say in Stars Hollow tomorrow, alright?"

"Otay," Charlie said as she made no move to get off of her grandmother's lap. They sat for a moment longer before Emily rose, taking Charlie with her.

"It's nearly time to go," she said as she headed upstairs to change Charlie's outfit. Charlie nodded, prepared to accept her fate of being dressed up like a little doll and being carted off to yet another social engagement so Emily could show her off.

* * *

"Luke's," Luke called gruffly into the phone. "Kirk! Shut up and wait!" he called out again before Emily could say anything.

"Luke?"

"Mrs. Gilmore," he said quickly, standing up straighter as if she could tell he was slouching over the phone. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you. And yourself?"

"Can't complain," he said, trying not to fidget. Talking to Lorelai's mother always made him fidget.

"I was wondering if I could ask a favour of you," she said, her voice sounding tight. Luke wondered if it had actually pained Emily Gilmore to ask him for a favour.

"Sure," he said, as he reached behind him to grab the coffee pot and refill a few of the cups on the counter.

"I promised Charlie I would bring her to Stars Hollow for the day tomorrow. Unfortunately, something has come up and I'm unable to keep that commitment and I was wondering, if I were to drop her off, would you be able to keep her over night?" Luke blinked a few times as his brain processed what had just been asked of him. "Luke?"

"Yeah, sorry, I'm here. That would be fine," he said. "No trouble at all."

"You're sure?" she asked again. "I don't want to inconvenience you."

"It would be fine," he said again.

"Very well," she said primly. "We'll arrive around 10 am."

"I'll be on the look out." They quickly said their good byes and Luke hung up the phone, staring at it before he finally went to see what Kirk had been yelling at him about.

* * *

"Richard, I'm taking Charlie to Stars Hollow tomorrow," Emily announced to her husband later that afternoon, while Charlie was napping.

"I thought you had that last minute cotillion function to organise?" he asked, looking at her over the rims of his reading glasses.

"I do. I will be dropping her off. Luke has agreed to keep her over night."

"The diner owner?" Richard asked, putting his book down.

"Lorelai seems to be forming some sort of relationship with him and, as a result, Charlie has attached herself to him. This might be good for her," she said after a minute. "She's been so solemn the last few days."

"Perhaps a taste of home would do her some good," he mused. His normally vivacious granddaughter had become quite morose as of late.

* * *

"Caesar, close for me, would you?" Luke asked after the dinner rush. He headed up to his apartment and grabbed an empty duffle bag before he headed out of the diner, getting in his truck, and towards Lorelai's house. If Charlie was going to spend the night, he might as well bring some supplies for her. He let himself in when he got to the Crap Shack and let out a low whistle when he saw the living room. It looked like a tornado had blown through. He gathered a few things as he went, tossing them onto the couch before heading upstairs. He gathered a couple of changes of clothes and some other essential supplies, shoving them into the duffle bag before gathering a few books he knew where Charlie's favourites.

He hesitated in the bedroom for a moment as he glanced around, checking to see if he had forgotten anything. His eyes settled on the baby monitor. He had a feeling he was going to have to leave Charlie in the apartment at some point, even if it was only during a nap so he grabbed that as well, bundling it into the bag before he headed down stairs. He gathered a few toys in to the bag and when it was full, he headed out side and tossed it into the truck. He headed back in once more. He knew that there was a play pen in the house some somewhere and that would definitely be a key item to have at his place. He eventually found it in Rory's room, set up in a corner and after he had dug all the blankets and toys out of it, he fought to get it to fold up before he lugged it out to the back of the truck as well. He popped in one last time to grab a few of the blankets and toys he had tossed out of the play pen mostly because he had no bedding small enough for Charlie and he wasn't sure what she'd want to sleep with. Luke locked up and was soon on his way back to the diner. He parked his truck in the back and brought the duffle bag in with him. He'd deal with the rest after close, when he wouldn't have to lug everything around the customers.

* * *

Emily glanced in the review mirror as she drove to Stars Hollow the next morning, confident that she had made the right decision. Charlie was already more like her old self, chattering away in the back seat as they drove. Emily did frown, however, when she realized that no, the upholstery on the booster seat did not match the interior of her car like she had been promised. She'd have to deal with that at some point as well. She refused to drive a Mercedes with a booster seat that didn't match in the back.

"Home soon?" Charlie called form the back, a small container of Cheerio's the maid had put together for her clutched tightly in her hand.

"We'll be there shortly," Emily assured her as she tuned the radio to a classical station. She had also taken it upon herself to introduce Charlie to as much culture as she could. Charlie grinned as she kicked her feet a little, turning her attention back to the Cheerio's and looking out the window.

* * *

"Duke!" Charlie squealed excitedly when she recognised the building Emily had stopped in front of. She waited impatiently as he grandmother liberated her from the car seat and got her bag out of the trunk of the car. "Duke!" Charlie called again as she hurried into the diner, Emily right behind her.

"Hey Charlie," he said with a smile as he delivered the plates in his hands to the table before scooping her up. "Missed you," he told her.

"Me too!" she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. She sat quietly in Luke's arms as Emily rattled off instructions and what not to him, She reluctantly let go of Luke so she could hug her grandmother good bye when she finally left.

"Hungry?" he asked her. Charlie's eyes lit up and she nodded. "Go say hi then," he said as he put her on the ground. Charlie looked around the diner as she began to pick out people she knew. She wandered over to Patty and Babette first and slowly made her rounds until Luke called her over to eat.

* * *

Luke sighed as he and Charlie stood outside of the town meeting. He hated these things, but Charlie loved them and he had decided that he was going to indulge her in as many Stars Hollow activities as he could while she was here, hopefully to hold her over until Rory and Lorelai got home.

"Go! Go!" Charlie said, pulling on his hand, trying to lead him in. He sighed and they sneaked in the back of Miss Patty's. Charlie quickly climbed up onto his lap and started in on the snacks he had packed her. Luke shook his head, Lorelai had certainly started early with this one. After the meeting, there were more people Charlie needed to say hello to as well as a need for a late night trip to the small park beside Patty's.

"Come on," he finally said as he plucked her from the ladder on the slide. "Time for bed."

"No!" Charlie complained.

"We'll play more tomorrow." he said as he headed back to the diner despite Charlie's protests. He smile a little as she continued to pout as he got her ready for bed and only stopped when presented with bottle and the promise of a bed time story. She was soon asleep and he tucked her into the play pen, taking a moment to think about how quickly he had turned into his own father. Gentle promises and patience to get the results he had wanted. "Hmm," was all he said as he contemplated this for a moment longer before turning in himself. He had deliveries tomorrow morning.

* * *

"She wasn't any trouble?" Emily asked the next afternoon when she arrived to collect Charlie. Luke had offered Emily a cup of coffee, seeing as Charlie was still down for her nap.

"None at all. We had a good time," he assured her with a nod. "I think we crammed a week's worth of Stars Hollow into two days.

"Wonderful," Emily said as the pair fell into a some what awkward conversation. "I take it she's up?" Emily asked when the baby monitor clipped to his waist came to life.

"We'll be down in a bit," he said as he headed up to get her. He had repacked the over night bag Emily had sent over, exchanging some of the toys and books. "Time to go home," he said to the sleepy toddler. He sat on the bed with her, after picking her up like he had seen Lorelai do so often. Charlie wasn't big on being thrown into the action soon after awakening.

"Mum?" she asked quietly.

"Grandma," he corrected.

"No," Charlie moaned, clinging to Luke. "Mum home." he sighed a little as he rubbed her back.

"You can come back soon and play some more," he assured her as they sat for a while longer before he gathered her and her things up and headed down stairs. He watched as Emily greeted the toddler brightly, but Charlie wanted none of it. "See ya later kid," Luke called out as the left the diner. He had a feeling Charlie would be on his door step again before the week was up.

* * *

**Charlie's almost two. This happens just after the Independence Inn catches fire.**

* * *

"You've got to stop doing this," Luke said as Lorelai came into the diner with that desperate, I-Need-A-Sitter look in her eyes. "She's getting too big for this."

"Too big for what?" Lorelai asked as she set the almost 2 year old on the ground. "She can amuse herself for a while now, leaving you free to run your business," she reasoned as she striped Charlie of her winter coat, hat and mitts.

"She amuses herself when she can run around. I can't have a 2 year old running around in my diner! It's not safe!" he said, coming out from around the counter to scoop Charlie up before she got behind the counter. He held her up as Lorelai quickly took her boots off and slipped on a pair of runners.

"That little sweepy broom you have? Give it too her. She will be out of your way for at least ½ an hour," she said, dropping Charlie's bag on the counter. "Be good Sweets," she told Charlie.

"Bye!" Charlie said cheerfully, waving to her mother.

"Lorelai!" Luke called out after her. "Trouble, the two of you," he grumbled as he swung Charlie on to his hip. It was quiet now, so he could cart her around and keep an eye on her. Charlie giggled as she settled in Luke's arms.

"Up?" Charlie asked pointing towards the stairs.

"We're working," he told her as he headed behind the counter to grab the coffee pot.

"Oh. Hot?" she asked, pointing to the pot.

"It's hot," he agreed as he headed out to refill the coffee mugs of the few customers he had. Charlie sat quietly, waiting until the pot was back on the element before she launched into another long string of questions. "Who's out side?" he finally asked her as he put her on the ground. Charlie ran over to one of the windows and looked out, pointed out people and things as she named them all. Luke breathed a sigh of relief as he cleaned a few tables and headed to the till while she was still occupied. While Charlie may be busy all the time now, there were still a few things that would keep her still for more than 30 seconds.

"Gamma!" he suddenly heard come out of the little girl's mouth.

"What?" he asked, his head shooting up. He squinted as he scanned the town square.

"Gamma! Gamma!" Charlie said, getting excited.

"Where? Show me," he said as he came over and crouched down beside her. Charlie quickly pointed out Emily and he frowned a little. Lorelai hadn't said anything about Emily Gilmore being in town. He got up quickly and headed to the phone, dialing the Independence Inn's number. While most of the staff had been laid off after the fire, Michel, Sookie and Lorelai were still guaranteed to be found here.

"Independence Inn, Lorelai speaking."

"Your mother is in town," Luke said immediately, keeping an eye on the ever approaching figure of Emily Gilmore.

"Luke?"

"Yes, Lorelai. Who else would phone you, panicking about your mother being in town?"

"Are you sure?" she asked, putting her pen down on the desk.

"Very sure. Are you expecting her?"

"No. Why?"

"Because she is most definitely headed in our direction," he said as he watched her getting closer to the diner.

"Maybe she was just hunting for antiques," Lorelai said quickly. "Maybe she just got turned around."

"In Stars Hollow? Three lefts and you're back in the middle of town!"

"I'm tapped then. Maybe she just wants a cup of coffee. I never stop going on about your coffee,"

"You really have no idea why she's here?" he asked again.

"Would I lie about something like this?" she asked as she sifted through the Inn's mail.

"Possibly." Luke was met with silence on the other end of the phone.

"Ok, possibly, but not now."

"Time's up," he said before he abruptly hung up and waited as Emily closed the gap to the diner.

"Gamma!" Charlie exclaimed happily as she hurried over. Luke cleaned the counter as he watched Emily scoop up the little girl and greet her before coming to the counter.

"Luke," Emily said as she came to stand at the counter.

"Mrs. Gilmore," he greeted her. "Coffee?"

"No, thank you. I can't stay," she said. "I would, however, like to talk to Lorelai."

"She's at work, at the Inn," he said.

"And why is Charlie here?"

"I seem to be baby sitting," he replied.

"Seem to be?"

"Lorelai has a habit of simply showing up and dropping Charlie off without warning," he said.

"I see," she said. "And this doesn't bother you?"

"Not really," he said with a shrug. "She's been doing it since Charlie was about 8 months old. I've gotten used to it." He fidgeted a little as Emily looked him over with a critical eye.

"And do you still maintain that there is nothing between you and my daughter?"

"Absolutely," he said with a nod. Emily looked him over again but didn't reply.

"I think I will take that coffee to go," she said as she put Charlie on the ground. "If I'm going to have to go all the way to the Inn to talk to my daughter."

"There you are," he said as he passed the to-go cup to her. Emily paid and quickly left after saying good bye to Charlie and Luke stood for a moment, wondering exactly what had been the point of that conversation. "The women in your family, I swear to God," he muttered to Charlie as she went back to the window and set about cleaning some of the tables.

* * *

Lorelai sighed as she and Luke hung up the phone. Her mother was in Stars Hollow, without warning or reason, and she was about to lay into Luke. And Charlie was there.

Emily was SO going to show up o her door step next. She just knew it.

"What's wrong?" Sookie asked when she saw Lorelai's face.

"My mother is in town," she said, like she had a bad taste in her mouth. "Luke just called to say that she was on her way into the diner and did I know why she was here."

"No idea?"

"None at all," Lorelai said. "And Charlie is with Luke because I can't bring her here any more and I didn't really plan ahead because, well, I'm me, so I just kind of dumped her on him. At least she let me colour co-ordinate her today," Lorelai said with another sigh. Charlie had recently taken to choosing her own outfits and colour and patterns didn't ever factor into her choices. Sookie chuckled a little, having seen some of the outfits the 2 year old had put together.

"Maybe she was just getting coffee," Sookie said as she came to lean on the desk beside Lorelai.

"She may have been, but as soon as she sees Charlie, she will be over here demanding to know what on earth I was thinking leaving her grandchild with that diner owner." The pair continued to loiter around the desk and chat. With only a handful of guests and no kitchen to cook in, they had more free time than they really knew what to do with.

"You are in my way," Michel said rudely as he came up behind them.

"Michel, there are 6 people in the inn. How are we possibly in your way?" Lorelai asked him.

"My chair is over there and you are between me and my chair," he pointed out as he crossed his arms over his chest. Lorelai and Sookie stepped out of his way, each offering him an eye roll, before they resumed their conversation.

"Independence Inn, Sookie speaking," Sookie said as she grabbed the phone, looking for something to do.

"Hey, it's Luke, is Lorelai there?"

"Just a minute," she said as she held out the phone to Lorelai.

"Hello?"

"Your mother is coming."

"Here?"

"She said very little about me watching Charlie, other than to ask if I still said there was nothing going on between you and me. Then, she asked for coffee to go and said she was coming to see you."

"My mother, I swear to God. . . " she said. "Thanks for the heads up."

"Any time," he said as she signed off. Lorelai quickly related to story to Sookie

"Why don't you just tell her that you and Luke are having a steamy affair?" Sookie asked with a smile. "I think it would be funny."

"You would," she muttered as she straightened the desk slightly, just as her mother marched in to the Inn. "Hi mom," Lorelai said with a smile.

"Why on earth are you leaving your daughter with that man who runs the diner?"

"Nice to see you too. Yes, it really is a shame about the inn, thanks for asking," she said with a plastered on smile. Emily frowned slightly and waited for an answer. "Because it's Luke mom. He's there, he's willing, Charlie loves him and when it does get busy, there are always 100 towns people who want to play with her."

"How much time does she spend with him in a week?"

"I don't know," she said with a shrug. "He feeds the three of us at least once a day, some times twice. She sees him when ever I stop in for coffee, at town meetings, town functions. . . "

"Rough estimate, Lorelai. How much time?"

"A few hours a day, every day."

"She should be spending that time with her father," Emily muttered and Lorelai rolled her eyes.

"Are you going to drive her too and from Boston several times a week mom? Besides, he and Sherry have a new baby at home."

"She should be getting to know her half sister as well if he's going to insist on making a life with that woman," she said indignantly.

"Mom, Christopher made his choice and there is nothing I can do about it. As it is, he is already seeing more of Charlie than he ever did of Rory at this age."

"Are you happy with the way things are?"

"The way what things are?" she asked, trying hard not to roll her eyes.

"Between you and Christopher."

"Yes, mom, I am."

"Because you can spend more time with that diner owner?" Lorelai opened her mouth but shut it again quickly. This was a classic Emily trap and she wasn't going to fall into it.

"No, not because I can spend more time with Luke. I'm happy with the way things are because as much as I want Christopher in Rory and Charlie's lives, I don't really want to have to share them with any one, I like having them all to myself." Emily looked her over long and hard.

"That diner owner."

"Luke, mom. His name is Luke."

"That Luke wouldn't mind sharing them with you." Lorelai blinked at her mother. "I can see it in his face, the way he dotes on the three of you."

"Mom, you never see the 4 of us together. How can you even say that?"

"Just because you don't see me in town doesn't mean I don't come. You do have some of the best antiques around you know," Emily said as she took one last pull from her coffee cup and placed it on the reception desk. "Well, I must be going, it was lovely talking to you," she said as he quickly turned and left, leaving Lorelai to stare at her retreating figure and Sookie and Michel to whisper to each other about the whole encounter.

"My mother spies on my while sneaking around town looking for antiques," Lorelai said, cocking her head to the side as she considered this development. "My MOTHER SPIES on me while sneaking around town looking for antiques? Who the hell, other than me, has a mother who does something like that?!?!" Sookie shrugged while Michel sat in his chair and chuckled at the whole thing. "This is too weird. I need coffee to deal with this," she said, though she made no efforts to move.

"There's none left here," Sookie said.

"I'm giving her a 5 minute head start," she said, still staring straight a head at the door.

* * *

"My mother spies on us while sneaking around town buying antiques. Coffee please," she said, taking a seat at the counter in Luke's half an hour later.

"What?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, you heard," Lorelai said. "Coffee!" she said, smacking the counter with her hand. Luke quickly poured her a cup while she related the whole story to him.

Luke couldn't really do anything but shake his head.

"Where's Charlie?" she asked after she took a sip.

"Upstairs, watching TV," he said as he unclipped the baby monitor from his belt. "Happily tucked away in the play pen with Sesame Street on the TV," he said. "The rush started early, I had to do something with her." She nodded as she drank her coffee, still trying to figure her mother out. "Your family scares me," he whispered to her.

"They scare me too," she assured him.

* * *

"Mom, how often do you shop for antiques in Stars Hollow?" Lorelai asked her mother at Friday Night diner.

"Every few months, why?" she asked. Lorelai could see her the corners of her mouth turning up as she took a sip of her martini.

"Just wondering," she said, drinking her own martini.

"I don't have a set schedule," Emily continued. "So, perhaps if you were trying to track me so you could continue to hide the affair you're having with the man who runs the diner. . . "

"You're having an affair with Luke?!?" Rory blurted out.

"Really Lorelai!" Richard admonished her.

"MOM!" Lorelai said immediately. "I am not having an affair with Luke! I can't believe you just suggested that!"

"Well why shouldn't I? You leave my granddaughter in the care of some man that you spend all your free time with. . . it's not hard to make an assumption about the two of you."

"Well it's the wrong assumption!"

"Lorelai, you do remember what they say about denial, right?"

"That it's a pretty blue river in Egypt?" Emily didn't reply to this. She sent Lorelai a knowing look before she turned her attention to Rory, asking her how her finally months at Chilton were going.

* * *


	8. Chapter 8

**Just one scene today, as it's 10 pages long. Charlie's about 4.**

* * *

"Mom, that dress is too much!" Lorelai said when she saw the flower girl dress Emily was busy picking out for Charlie to wear at their vow renewal."Don't be silly Lorelai, it's just precious," Emily said as she pulled it off the rack Miss Celine had brought over. Charlie, who Celine had taken to calling Shirley, was sitting on a near by chair making faces at the dress. 

"Charlie, come help Grandma pick out a dress for you," Lorelai said.

"Yes, Shirley, let's find the perfect dress," Celine agreed as she perused a second rack of dresses she had brought over. Lorelai picked Charlie up so she could get a better view of the dresses.

"This one!" the little girl said with a smile as she wrestled a dress off the rack. It was simple and white with very little crinoline in it.

"Gorgeous!" Miss Celine exclaimed as she took it from Charlie. "Shirley always did look adorable in an empress waist Cinderella dress," she said as she held it out to see. "Go, go. Put it on immediately!" Charlie giggled as Lorelai took the dress and followed Charlie up to one of the bedrooms upstairs.

"Well?" Charlie asked as she came tearing out of the bedroom a few minutes later. The dress was white and sleeveless with an empress waist and a skirt that fell to the middle of her thighs. A cream coloured ribbon sat along the seam at the empress waist, tied in a bow to the left hand side. Detailing on the skirt and bodice were picked out in glass beads and silver thread.

"Just imagine!" Miss Celine said, clasping her hands as she walked around Charlie. "With her hair properly curled and a matching cream ribbon in her hair? Darling! Just darling!" Charlie looked up hopefully at her grandmother.

"It's gorgeous," Emily agreed and Charlie bounced a little.

"White ankle socks," Miss Celine decreed immediately. "Thin ones, with an elegant lace trim. And white Mary Janes! I have just the pair, in fact, they belonged to Miss Shirley Temple herself."

"Really?"

"Yes really," Miss Celine said. "Step up here." Lorelai picked her up and placed her on the chair as Miss Celine made note of where the dress must be tailored for the perfect fit. "Now, take it off before you get it dirty!" Charlie giggled excitedly as Lorelai swept her off to the bedroom again and back into her jeans and t-shirt.

* * *

"The dress is ridiculous," Lorelai told Luke later that night after Charlie was asleep. "White and beaded and ridiculous."

"And she loves it and looks absolutely adorable in it, right?"

"If she was blonde, you'd be calling her Shirley too," she said with a smile and a shake of her head. "And she loves it already." Luke chuckled as he turned off the light in the bathroom and headed to join Lorelai in bed.

"So, next week . . . Suit and tie?"

"Of course. But, you can get dressed there."

"Thank God," he said. "Because that just makes it SO much more bearable," he said sarcastically. Lorelai shook her head before she kissed him good night and they snuggled down under the covers.

* * *

"Hello?" Luke called the day of the vow renewal.

"Luke?" Lorelai called form upstairs.

"Luke is already here?" Rory called from her bedroom.

"Luke!" Charlie called as she barreled out of her room and into Luke's arms.

"You're the only one that's ready?" he asked, hanging his garment bag up by the door.

"I'm low maintenance," the four year old explained to him. He chuckled as they talked a while longer before Lorelai jogged down the stairs, hers and Charlie's garment bag over her shoulder.

"Let's go Rory!" she called as she soon came out to join them. Coats were quickly grabbed as they headed out the door.

"Aren't you going to lock up?" Luke asked.

"Oh yeah. Babette! Lock up when you leave!"

"Sure thing doll," she said as she popped her head up from the couch where she was sleeping off her hang over. Luke jumped when he saw her, but didn't say anything as he followed his girls out to the jeep.

* * *

"Seriously?" Luke asked when Richard said to follow him to get ready. Lorelai shrugged.

"Have a scotch or what ever he'll have stashed there. It'll be fine. Just watch out for the tailor, he'll try to tailor you." Luke looked at her again as Richard came over, presenting Lorelai with two necklaces, one of which she was to pick for Emily before they all went their separate ways.

When the girls got to the dressing room, Rory immediately hung her things up, Charlie bounced around in excitement and Emily began to nag Lorelai, mostly out of nervousness. Charlie was immediately plunked in a chair so Emily's stylist could begin on her hair while Rory changed and Lorelai dealt with the necklaces.

"Which one?" she asked Emily simply. She chose and Lorelai headed off to return them to Richard. By the time Lorelai got back to the room, Charlie's hair was all up in curlers, Rory was dressed and finishing up her hair and Emily was mostly dressed as well.

"Hurry up!" Emily called to Lorelai who simply rolled her eyes and ducked into the back to change. Emily sent Charlie back not long after. "Smarter to put the dress on before you take the rollers out," she reasoned and Lorelai simply rolled her eyes. To her, this just meant more time for Charlie to find something to get dirty in.

"You are simply adorable!" Emily gushed when she saw Charlie all put together. Dressed all in shades of white and cream only helped her bright blue eyes and dark hair to stand out against her pale complexion. Charlie smiled brightly and twirled a little before Emily and Marilyn began herding the Gilmore Girls towards the Rose Room for the ceremony.

Everyone oohed and awed over Charlie as she made her way down the aisle. Richard smiled as he watch his little granddaughter muttered away silently to herself about how fast she should walk and what she should do with the rose petals in her basket. She smiled brightly at him as she took her place beside Rory and turned her attention to her mother who was now walking down the stairs.

As the ceremony went on, Lorelai was impressed that Charlie was managing to stay still and quiet through the whole thing. Charlie was a mover and shaker and rarely stood still for more than 5 minutes at a time so Lorelai was sure it was a minor miracle that she stood still for the whole 30 minutes it took for the ceremony to end.

* * *

"Did I do good?" Charlie asked Luke immediately after finding him in the reception hall.

"You did perfectly," he assured her before greeting her mother. "You did perfectly as well," he assured Lorelai. She smiled and led them to the bar for drinks, Martini for her, beer for Luke and 7up for Charlie.

"Best to keep all liquids clear for now," she said. Charlie agreed, knowing that there would be some kind of bib or something for her to wear when dinner was served. As Lorelai shooed Charlie and Luke to the table, Christopher made his way over. Luke watched as they talked for a moment before Charlie noticed he was here.

"Want to go talk to him?" he asked her. Charlie frowned.

"No," she said, still mad at him for not calling her for the last two weeks. Luke grinned to himself as he sat down and pulled the little girl onto his lap.

"What are you doing here?" Lorelai asked him.

"Your mother invited me," he replied as he continued to down his drink.

"I'm here with Luke," she told him.

"How did he take the fact that you spend that night drinking with me last week?"

"It was fine," she said. "In fact, he suggested I see if you were alright. Well, he wasn't pleased with the fact that I was hung over, but other than that there were no big issues. See, in our relationship, we actually talk to each other about things." Lorelai watched as the emotions rolled over Chris' face.

"Good for you," he said. "If you'll excuse me?"

"Gladly," she said as she turned on her heel and headed back to the table. "You didn't come and say hi to your dad?"

"Nope," Charlie answered as she lounged against Luke. "He didn't call again," she said. Lorelai frowned a little, but didn't push it.

* * *

As the night progressed, things went smoothly, except for Christopher. Emily had come to him with a very specific warning and he would be damned if he didn't pay attention this time. As he downed another glass of scotch, he watched as Lorelai convinced Luke to dance with her. Charlie was quickly deposited in her older sisters lap as the couple headed for the dance floor and he couldn't take it any more. He got up and headed to the small salon that was located just off of the main room. Rory watched him duck out and she frowned a little.

"Let's go say hi to dad," she said.

"No," Charlie replied. She was having her first freeze out against him and she had no intentions of giving in until her mother or Luke made her.

"He was probably just busy with Gigi," Rory tried to reason with her.

"How come he hasn't come to say hi to us yet then?"

"Fine," she said as they continued to sit for a while longer. "Want to dance?" Rory asked.

"Yes!" Charlie said enthusiastically as she slid off of Rory's lap and practically dragged her out to the dance floor.

* * *

Lorelai and Rory watched as Luke twirled Charlie around the dance floor a little later in the evening.

"She's adorable today," Rory said with a smile.

"She is," Lorelai agreed as she watched the pair on the dance floor.

"What?" Rory asked when she heard her sigh.

"I think Luke might be the one," she admitted to Lorelai. "He's great to you and fabulous with her. . . "

"And you can't imagine a day without him?" Rory joked.

"I can't," Lorelai said with a shake of her head.

"I'm really happy for you," Rory said as she hugged her mother. "I'm gonna go and talk to dad," she said after a moment. Lorelai nodded and let Rory go as she continued to watch Luke and Charlie dance for a moment longer before Richard came and cut in.

"Jealous?" Luke asked as he came back to the table and saw Lorelai staring at him.

"Nope," she said with a smile. "Have I told you I love you recently?" she asked. He smiled and said that she had, but that he was glad her opinions hadn't changed.

"Where's Rory?" he asked after a moment.

"Talking to Christopher," she said, her eyes still focused on her father, waltzing around the floor in with Charlie giggling away in his arms. Her attention was pulled away from this, however, when both she and Luke heard the beginnings of a commotion in the salon. They both frowned as they got up and headed to see what was going on.

"Luke is not keeping her from you," Rory told her father as she moved away from him. "She's mad you because you haven't called her in two weeks!" Rory turned as she heard the door open.

"I've been busy!" he said to her, not noticing that the door had opened.

"How hard is it to call and say 'hey, I'm really busy this week, but I love you and I'll call you next week'?"

"Come on Rory," he said again. "Don't be like this."

"Why shouldn't I?" she asked as she brushed past him and her mother and Luke on her way out the door and back to the reception. Chris turned to see the two of them standing there.

"I should go," he muttered as he quickly brushed past the pair. He paused for a moment while he considered leaving, but when he saw Charlie dancing with Richard, he changed his mind and headed over to them. He quickly cut it and began worming his way back into Charlie's good graces. While Luke and Lorelai had both returned to the reception hall in time to see this, a relative Lorelai didn't remember had cornered them and was chatting them up. Lorelai worked in a rather rushed fashion to get out of the conversation so she could rescue Charlie, but she wasn't succeeding and neither was Luke. Lorelai grew more desperate as she watched Charlie's face begin to fall.

"Excuse me, I really have to go," she said with a forced smile as she pulled Luke along with her and hurried to the dance floor. "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded as she pulled the distraught 4 year old from her father's arms. Charlie quickly clamped on to her mother, ignoring her father as he made excuses.

"Get a cup of coffee Christopher," she growled at him as she turned tail and left with Charlie, trying to get out of her what exactly Christopher had said.

"Lorelai!" he called as he began to go after her.

"You should really get that cup of coffee," Luke said as he put out a hand to stop Christopher.

"Get off of me," he said, pushing Luke away. "She's my kid, not yours." Luke quickly grabbed his arm to stop him again. The two men stared each other down as people on the dance floor began to notice.

"Christopher, Luke," Richard said as he quickly came over. "How about another drink?" he asked.

"Sure," Luke said.

"I need to talk to Charlie," Chris said.

"I think you need some coffee, son," Richard said, tightening his arm around Christopher. "I think Luke can manage to check on the girls," he said. Luke nodded and ducked out quickly, heading off to find them.

"Party's over?" he asked when he found Charlie cuddled in Lorelai's lap and Rory fuming beside her.

"Party's over," she agreed. "Right?"

"Yes," both girls said.

"Alright, let's go," she said as she stood up.

"Oh good, here you are," the photographer said as he came up behind the group. "I want to get some shots before the cake is cut."

"5 minutes," Lorelai said as she immediately headed to the bathroom with Charlie and Rory. The Photographer looked a little panicked, but he quickly headed back to the reception to get a few of just Emily and Richard with the cake. Luke hovered near the girls when they came back to the ball room, making sure Christopher stayed away from them.

"You and me," Lorelai whispered to her mother when the pictures were done. "We're done," she said as picked Charlie back up and headed for the door, Rory and Luke on her heels.

* * *

"You guys want to stop for anything, or are we just heading home?" Luke asked as he climbed into the drivers seat after Lorelai had all but thrown the keys at him.

"Just go home," she said as Rory and Charlie sat in the back seat, staring out the windows. The drive home was a quiet one, no one really saying anything.

"Can we watch a movie?" Charlie asked when they were nearly home.

"Sure," Lorelai replied. "You wanna rent it, or see what's on a Black, White and Read?"

"Black, White and Read," she said as she started to perk up a little. Rory agreed and Luke shrugged, he wasn't really in any position to deny the three Gilmore Girls. As they settled into their seats, Lorelai couldn't help but smile as Charlie glued herself to Luke, making sure she was seated in his lap to watch the movie. He was definitely the right one.

* * *

"What exactly happened?" Luke asked as he came into the bedroom from making sure Charlie was down for the night. Lorelai shook her head as she took her dress off and changed into a pair of sweat pants and a tank top.

"Charlie said he started off apologizing for forgetting to call, but he quickly moved on to trying to get her to talk about our relationship and how you treated her and trying to get reassurances from her that she loved him more. . . It was classic Christopher," she said. She waited for Luke to say something as he changed into his own pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt.

"That's it?" he asked. Lorelai hesitated. "What else?"

"He told her that he wanted her to come and live with him, that he didn't like what was going on with us and he wasn't sure if it was good for her." She waited for him to explode, but it didn't come.

"He really is a piece of work," he said with a shake of his head. "Why the hell was he there?"

"My mother invited him. Rory told me that he said he was going to make us a real family." That finally got Luke's attention.

"What?" She nodded as she came over to him, wrapping her arms around him.

"Emily is determined to get her perfect ending," she said as she hung on to him. "I can only imagine what would have happened if you and my dad hadn't stepped in," she said. She felt his breathing start to speed up for a moment before he finally wrapped an arm around her and began to calm down. "I'm done with her and her games," she said firmly as she pulled back to look at him. "No more. Rory and Charlie can make up their own minds about how much time they want to spend with Emily because I'm done."

"Come on, it's been a long day," was all Luke said as he kissed the top of her head before letting her go and leading her to bed. Lorelai breathed a sigh of relief. She knew how important family was to Luke and if he wasn't going to protest this, she knew she had made the right choice in putting her foot down.

* * *

"Rory?"

"Come on," she said as she rolled over to face the little voice that was calling her. Charlie quickly grabbed her blankie and scrambled into bed with Rory.

"Why would dad do that?" she asked after she was snuggled under the covers and tucked into Rory's side. Rory sighed as she played with one of Charlie's curls.

"Because he's scared of losing us."

"He knows where we are," the 4 year old replied. Rory smiled.

"He's starting to realise that Luke is here for you and me and mom all the time. He's scared that we're not going to want to be with him any more because we'll have Luke."

"He's still dad though," she replied.

"But he's not really our dad, he never really has been," Rory said.

"I don't understand."

"He's never here, Charlie. He's never here with us, he never really does 'dad' things with us the way he does with Gigi. Luke does all those things." Charlie considered this for a moment.

"Mom's really mad, isn't she?"

"She is. She's mad at dad and grandma," Rory said as she closed her eyes, having a feeling that the conversation was drawing to a close.

"I'm mad at them too. But not Grandpa. He was good."

"Grandpa is always good," she agreed.

"Can I stay here tonight?" Charlie whispered.

"Of course," Rory whispered back with a smile as the pair drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Lorelai rolled out of bed the next morning and headed to the shower. Luke was still snoring away and since she didn't hear the TV on, she assumed the girls were both still asleep. She showered quickly before drying off and getting dressed in jeans and long sleeved shirt.

"Hey," Luke said as he cracked an eye open.

"Hey sleepy head," she said as she came to sit on the edge of the bed to put her socks on. "Any plans for today?" she asked.

"Not really," he said. "I should head to the diner for a bit, but Lane and Caesar can handle it for the day if need be."

"I think I might take Rory and Charlie shopping today," she said.

"Retail therapy?" he asked, slightly disgusted. She smiled.

"You're catching on," she said.

"I'll stay at the diner then," he said as he sat up in bed.

"We always love a pack mule . . ." she hinted.

"Not today you don't," he said as he kissed her before he got up to start his day.

"Spoil sport!" she called to him as he shut the bathroom door. She shook her head and headed down stairs to make some coffee. She paused and looked into Rory and Charlie's room and smiled when she saw the pair snuggle in bed together. Seeing this also made her think. Rory was the same age she was when Rory had been Charlie's age. Almost to the day in fact. She some times wondered if Rory ever thought about that, but she pushed it to the back of her mind. Rory had made it. Rory had made it to the Ivy league school of her dreams after graduating top of her class at Chilton. If Rory could make it, Charlie definitely would. With one final look, Lorelai pulled the door almost all the way closed before she continued on her journey to make coffee.

"Mmmmm . . . coffee," Rory said a few moments later when she trudged out of her room.

"Hey Sweets," she said as Rory wandered over to her. Lorelai threw an arm around her shoulders as she leaned against her. "Are you busy today?"

"I have an article I should work on," Rory muttered as she waited for the coffee.

"Too busy for some shopping?"

"No, actually, I don't think I am," she confirmed with a smile.

"Good. You, me and Charlie are hittin' the malls today," she said as she let go or Rory and pulled the coffee put, sticking a cup in the machine to catch the drip while she poured a cup for Rory. "Here, wake up," she said as she handed it to her eldest. Rory took it and wandered slowly to the table. "Hey baby," Lorelai called softly as Charlie wandered out of the room as well, rubbing her eyes. Lorelai removed her cup form the coffee maker, sticking the pot in it's place before she scooped up Charlie. "How are you doing?" she whispered in her ear.

"Okay," she said as she snuggled down against Lorelai's shoulder.

"Good. Feel up to some shopping today?" she asked. Charlie hesitated for a moment.

"I wanna stay with Luke."

"We're all gonna hang around here for a while. Do you think that will be enough time?"

"Maybe."

"Okay," she said as she put her cup on the table and headed to the fridge to get some milk for Charlie. "We can decide later."

"Okay," she said with a yawn.

"Pancakes?" Luke asked after he came down and took a good look at the three of them sitting around the table.

"With bacon," Rory said.

"Sausage," Lorelai replied.

"Both," Charlie chimed in. Pancakes were comfort food and everyone in that room knew it. Breakfast passed quietly, no one really saying anything until Luke was done cooking and the table was covered in food. "Are you going to the diner?" Charlie finally asked.

"I am. Wanna come?" Charlie nodded and Luke agreed. "Do you still want to go shopping?" he asked.

"I wanna stay with you today," she said, glancing over at her mother.

"Well, we'll just have to bring you home something good then," Lorelai replied Charlie sighed contentedly as she continued eating, listening as Rory and Lorelai made their plans for the day.

* * *

"Go get dressed," Lorelai told Charlie when she was done as she, Luke and Rory began to clean up and put the leftovers away. Charlie rushed into the bedroom she shared with Rory and quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and her favourite blue t-shirt before appearing in the kitchen again. "Brush your hair?"

"I wanna keep the curls," she said, giggling as she shook her head and they tickled her face.

"Grab a hair band then," Lorelai said. Charlie quickly disappeared again, coming out shortly after with a blue elastic hair band holding the curls away from her face.

"I guess we'll see you later," Luke said as he and Charlie headed to the door to put on their coats.

"Have fun babe," Lorelai said, kissing each of them in turn.

"Bye mom," Charlie said as they left the house. Lorelai watched as Charlie quickly slid her hand into Luke's as they walked towards town.

"So, just us gorgeous women again," Lorelai said as she sauntered back into the kitchen for another cup of coffee. Rory shook her head as she headed into her bedroom to finish the article and get dressed for the day.

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

**Charlie's 5th birthday party**

* * *

"You're nuts," Luke informed his wife as he read the list she was making.

"Why?" she asked as she looked over her shoulder at him.

"Let's start with the fact that there are 10 little girls coming to this party. Plus April, Rory and possibly Lane. You are going to pump them full of sugar and every other kind of junk food imaginable before you set them loose on a scavenger hunt at the Dragonfly."

"On the grounds," she cut him off. "They won't be running around inside."

"And you are going to do all of this while pregnant," he finished.

"I'm barely 3 months along," she said with a wave of her hand as she checked over the list again. "You're bringing the burgers over?"

"At 4," he confirmed with roll of his eyes and shake of his head. "Fries too, curly, straight and spicy."

"Good man," she said as she checked that off her list. Sookie was already making two cakes, one white and one chocolate since Charlie couldn't decide what she wanted. The cupboards were bursting with candy and other junk food they had already bought, decorations, prizes and certain scavenger hunt items were already in her office at the Dragonfly. "I think we're set," she said as she read over her list once more.

"Wonderful," he said. "Can we go to bed now?"

"Fine," she said as she stood up from the table and followed him upstairs, turning lights out as she went. She opened Charlie's door on the way past. They had moved into the new house a few weeks ago, but Charlie still insisted on having the door open when she slept, just in case.

* * *

Lorelai smiled to herself as her eyes popped open a few minutes after 2 in the morning. Luke had asked her once how she always managed to do this without an alarm and she simply shrugged. She didn't know how she did it, she just knew that she always did. She threw off the covers and crept down stairs quietly into Charlie's room.

"Happy birthday baby," she muttered to as she kissed her forehead and stroked her hair to wake her up.

"Hi," Charlie said with a sleepy smile as she skootched over to make room for her mom. She snuggled into Lorelai's side and listened as she told the traditional birthday story.

"Any complaints?" she asked.

"Mmmm . . .I'd like there to be fewer boys at school."

"I'll work on that," Lorelai chuckled as she continued on with the well rehearsed ritual.

* * *

Luke could only shake his head as he watched the masses of little girls running around the grounds of the Dragonfly. While they were still on the scavenger hunt, there also seemed to be a game of tag going on. He bobbed and weaved around them as he headed towards the door.

"What exactly are they doing out there?" he asked Lorelai as he handed over the containers of burgers and fries.

"Well," she said as she stole some fries. "They were on the scavenger hunt, but you know how 5 year olds are. . . I think they're playing tag now. Or maybe Red Rover, I'm a little sketchy on the details," she finished as she headed to the dinning room with some of the bags. Luke stared at her for a moment before he followed her with the rest.

"Whoa," he said with he saw all the pink in the room. "Did a cotton candy machine throw up in here?" Lorelai laughed as she began setting places.

"Don't I wish," she replied. Luke shook his head as he began setting places as well. Just as he finished, Lorelai went out to call the girls in.

"I'll see you later," he said as he narrowly avoided stepping on a few pairs of little feet.

"Have fun Diner Man," she called to him as she, Rory, April and Lane jumped back into the fray of little girls swarming around.

* * *

"So, good birthday?" Luke asked as he carried a sleepy Charlie to the car.

"Perfect," she replied with a yawn.

"Good," he said as he tucked her into the booster seat while Lorelai, Rory and April packed the last of the gifts into the back of the jeep.

"We'll see you guys later," Rory said. She and April were planning on walking home and stopping in to catch the end of the movie at Black, White and Read.

"Have fun," Lorelai called. "Call if you want a ride home after the movie," she said, slipping April a $20 for more junk food at the movie.

"We will," they both said with one last wave before they headed off.

"I still say you're nuts," Luke said as he and Lorelai climbed into the jeep.

"Doesn't really matter though," she replied with a smile. "You're stuck with me now."

"I suppose you're right," he said with a grin as they headed home.

* * *

**Charlie's 3  
**

* * *

Lorelai left Charlie's room slowly, She closed the door almost completely before she took a step back. She stared at the door for a moment longer before she looked to her right and saw Luke just coming back into the house with coffee from the diner for her.

"Thank you," she said as she came into the living room an accepted the cup from him.

"Some day," he said simply.

"Some day," she said with a shake of her head. "Let's never have one like it again."

"Agreed," he said as the pair drifted off into silence for a moment.

* * *

The day had started out well enough. Things were moving along with the Dragonfly, in fact they had just finished the renovations on the barn so that Cletus and Desdemona could move in any time. Lorelai smiled as she showed Charlie the inside of the barn.

"A real hay loft?" the 3 year old had exclaimed.

"We're even thinking of putting in a big rope swing," Lorelai assured her as she led Charlie out of the barn.

"Wow!" she said, taking her mother's hand as they headed back towards the Inn. "Luke!" she exclaimed as she broke away and ran to greet the diner owner.

"I didn't think you were coming," Lorelai said as she wandered over to him.

"Well, you were pretty insistent about taking that investors tour, so, here I am," he finished with a shrug. She smiled and agreed that she had been before she began leading him and Charlie around the Dragonfly. Charlie, however, quickly grew bored of this. She had seen the Dragonfly for months now and was tired of it. As Lorelai and Luke stood in the dinning hall, talking about something, Charlie wander off. She stood outside for a moment, considering her options before a smile lit up her face and she took off.

Lorelai led Luke through a few more rooms before either of them realised Charlie's wasn't with them.

"Charlie?" Lorelai called out as she turned around and began retracing their steps. "Charlie!"

"Charlie!" Luke called as he trailed after Lorelai.

"CHARLIE! Michel, have you seen Charlie?" she asked as she came over to the front desk, checking to see if the 3 year old was hiding under it.

"No, should I have?"

"I don't know where she is," Lorelai watched as Michel got ready to say something. "You know how you'd feel if Paw-Paw disappeared? I'm approaching that," she warned him. Michel quickly headed to the back to look. "CHARLIE! It's not funny any more!" she yelled as she rushed upstairs to look. Luke continued to scour the bottom floor.

"Charlie! Now!" He called as he began sticking his head into random rooms that littered the bottom floor of the inn.

"Charlotte Abigail Gilmore!" Lorelai yelled again, startling a few construction workers. They all just stepped out of her way as she tore through the upper floor. "God Damnit Charlie!" she growled as she wiped at her eyes, trying to keep the panic tears at bay as she raced back down the stairs.

"Out side," Luke said as he grabbed her hand as she raced past. He took the lead, not letting go of her hand as they headed out side. "Charlotte Abigail!" he called out as soon as they got out side. Lorelai listened for a moment before she led them around the back to the large open field behind the inn.

"CHARLIE!" she yelled again.

"She wouldn't head for the woods, would she?" he asked, looking at the forest that bordered the Inn. Lorelai shook her head.

"No. Rory read her some book, I don't remember which, but she's convinced there are bears here. God Damnit! Charlie where are you!" she yelled again as she stalked back towards the front of the Inn. Luke took one last look over the field before he followed her. As she went to look in the jeep, just in case, Luke jogged over to the barn, wrestling the large doors open.

"Charlie!" he boomed, trying to make his eyes adjust to the dark faster.

"Charlotte Abigail, right now!" Lorelai yelled.

"What?" Came a little voice and both Lorelai and Luke whipped their heads up to the hay loft so fast, they should have had whiplash.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Lorelai yelled at her as she stalked over to the ladder that led up to the loft. "What possessed you to just run off like that and not tell any one?" Lorelai fought Luke for a moment as he pulled her off the ladder.

"Come down here right now," he said as he climbed about half way up. Charlie bit her lip as she crawled over to the ladder. She had never seen either of them this mad before.

"What were you thinking?!?" Lorelai demanded again as soon as Charlie and Luke were back on the ground. "God, I was terrified!"

"I'm sorry," the little girl said quietly as she looked from Luke to Lorelai. "I didn't mean to fall asleep. . . "

"I don't care about the sleeping! I care about the running off without telling any one!" Luke crossed his arms over his chest as he stood to the side. He'd step in if he needed to, if only to calm Lorelai down. "I turn around and you're gone! You're not with Michel or Sookie or upstairs, you're just no where!"

"I'm sorry!" she said again, starting to cry. "I. . . I was bored and you were busy and I only meant to be gone for a minute!" she balled as she rushed Lorelai and threw her arms around her legs. Lorelai stood for a moment before she scooped the little girl up and held her close.

"I'll, uh, I'll go and tell Sookie and Michel we found her," Luke said as he made a hasty exit. He took a moment out side the barn to collect himself before he went into the inn. This had scared him more than he would ever admit.

* * *

Charlie had spent the rest of the day glued to Lorelai's side, making no effort to do anything that her mother wasn't doing. By the time bed time rolled around, Lorelai and Charlie were both exhausted. Lorelai tucked Charlie in and headed to meet Luke who had just arrived with the coffee he had promised her. They'd eaten dinner in the diner before she had taken Charlie home for another lecture.

"Thank you," she said as she came into the living room an accepted the cup from him.

"Some day," he said simply.

"Some day," she said with a shake of her head. "Let's never have one like it again."

"Agreed," he said as the pair drifted off into silence for a moment. "Are you okay?" he asked her as he cradled his cup of tea in his hands, letting it warm them. Lorelai sat for a moment before she began to loose it. Luke quickly plucked the to go cup from her hands and put it on the coffee table with his before he gathered her into his arms and held her.

"I only ever lost Rory once," she finally said when she began to calm down. "But we were in a department store and by the time I realised she was missing, she had already gone to customer service and had them page me."

"She's fine now, they both are," he whispered to her. "It could have been so much worse and I bet she'll never wander off again." She sniffled as she clung to him, glad to have someone to hold her up for once. Luke sighed as he sat on the couch with her wrapped in his arms. With out really thinking, he kissed the top of her head before he tucked her under his chin. They sat for a moment longer before Lorelai realised what had happened and she sat back and looked at him for a moment.

"What?" he asked, almost in a whisper. She studied his face for a moment longer before she brought a hand up to his face and leaned in and kissed him. Luke was shocked, but quickly ignored that as he pulled her closer to him, deepening the kiss. They pulled apart after a moment, neither really sure what to do.

"Thank you," she eventually said, not really sure what else to say.

"No problem," he replied as he let go of her and she stood up. He jumped to his feet a moment later. "I should, uh, probably go."

"Oh, okay," she said with a nod as she picked up his cup and handed it to him. "It is kind of late."

"Yeah. Early deliveries tomorrow."

"Right. Hazard of the business," she said with a nod as she followed him to the door.

"So, uh, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, tomorrow." They looked at each other for a long moment before he ducked his head and she dropped her gaze to her hands.

"Night," he said as he slipped out the front door.

"Night," she repeated after he was gone. Things had just gotten significantly more complicated.

* * *

"I'm home!" Rory called out as she tossed her giant laundry bags by the door. "Hello?" she called again.

"Rory?" Charlie called from the kitchen.

"Hey Short Stuff!" she said as she came into the kitchen. "Are you cooking?" she asked immediately when she saw Lorelai and Rory in aprons.

"Of course not," Lorelai said as she stepped away from the counter. Rory wandered over cautiously.

"Finger painting?" she asked when she saw the long sheet of paper that covered the counter.

"Yeah!" Charlie said excitedly. Rory couldn't help but giggle at the paint smeared on her face. "How long are you staying?"

"The whole weekend," she assured Charlie before heading to drop her book bag off in their room. "Hey!" she exclaimed as she came back out just in time for Lorelai and Charlie to both smear a different colour on her face. The art class quickly descended into anarchy after that.

* * *

"So, when are you going to tell me what's going on," Rory said as she and Lorelai sat hunkered down on the couch, watching movies.

"What do you mean?" Lorelai asked, playing it cool.

"I've been in town for 12 hours and we haven't been to Luke's yet. What's going on?" she asked again, reaching for the remote to mute the TV. Lorelai grabbed it away from her before she could get it.

"I was giving Luke a tour of the Dragonfly yesterday."

"Okay."

"And Charlie wandered off. So, after about a million years of frantic searching, Luke found her in the hay loft of the barn."

"She was okay?" Rory asked quickly.

"Fine. I was a nervous wreck, but she was fine. Anyway, he came over after she went to bed, he brought me coffee and we were just sitting on the couch, and talking and everything that happened today finally hit me."

"And you lost it. . . " Rory filled in.

"And I lost it," Lorelai confirmed. "And he just, I dunno, gathered me up and held on for the ride and then. . . "

"Then? Then what?" Rory demanded.

"He kissed the top of my head and when I realised what was going on. . ."

"What?!?"

"I kissed him. On the lips." She shut her eyes and waited. "Well?"

"What did he say?"

"Nothing," she said. "Well, about the kissing. We both just kind of mumbled excuses and he left."

"And now you're avoiding him."

"That was a period at the end of that sentence."

"It was. I believe I pointed out at the beginning of this conversation that I had been in town for 12 hours and hadn't set foot in Luke's yet." Lorelai sighed and looked away from Rory, focusing on the TV. "You can't leave him hanging like this! We'll never be able to eat in Luke's again!"

"Rory, it'll blow over in a few days."

"And what about Charlie? She's so little and can't fend for herself! If anyone needs Luke, Charlie does!"

"And when am I going to deal with this?" Lorelai asked as she finally turned to look at Rory. "This defiantly can't be done with a diner full of people watching."

"Go now," Rory said simply with a bit of a shrug.

"But, You and Charlie. . "

"I can stay here with Charlie and chances are good that I'll still be up when you get back so we can analyse. Unless things go really well . . ."

"Rory!" she admonished.

"Go!" she said with a smile, plucking the remote from Lorelai's hand.

"Traitor," Lorelai muttered as she unfolded herself from the couch and headed tot he door, grabbing her coat and putting on her shoes.

* * *

Luke turned when he heard the knock on the diner door. He had always called out that they were closed, but who ever it was hasn't noticed. When he realised that it was Lorelai, he came over and opened the door before high tailing it behind the counter.

"Hey," she said as she wandered towards the counter.

"Hey," he replied as he simply stared at her.

"Any coffee left?" she asked as she slid onto a stool.

"Uh, yeah, sure," he said as he quickly grabbed a cup, filled it and set it in front of her. An extremely awkward silence fell over them.

"So, how's Charlie?"

"Good, she's good. She actually let me be today, so I think she's going to be fine."

"Good."

"Yeah." She played with the rim of her mug as he fumbled for something to do with his hands.

"Look, this is ridiculous," he said as he tossed down his cleaning rag. "We need to talk about this."

"About what?" she asked innocently.

"About last night, we kissed," he muttered.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that. I mean, if you want to just ignore that it ever happened, that's fine with me."

"Oh," was all she could say.

"Yeah, I mean, you have Charlie and a new business and a kid in college. . . "

"Ok," she said, slightly confused about what Rory being in college had to do with anything. She shook her head as she realised that Luke was still rambling. "It wasn't horrible," she finally blurted out.

"What?"

"It wasn't horrible."

"Huh," he said as he relaxed for a moment. She chewed on her lip as they tried to figure out what to do next.

"Where are you going?" she asked when Luke shot around the counter "What?" she asked as he plucked the coffee cup from her hand and pulled her to her feet. He looked at her for a long moment before he brought his hands up to frame her face and dipped his head, capturing her lips in a long, slow kiss. "Wow," was all she could get out when they finally pulled apart.

"So, uh," he started but was quickly cut off as she closed the gap between them and kissed him again. As things began to heat up quickly and she followed as he led them up the stairs and into his apartment. "Wait," he said, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. "Charlie. . ."

"Is at home with Rory," she assured him. "Unless you don't want to . . ."

"No, I do I just wanted to. . . "

"Thanks," she said as they quickly picked up where they left off.

* * *

"I really have to go," she muttered against Luke's lips as she tried to leave the apartment. "You're going to open soon and I need to get home to my kids," she said as he pulled her down to the bed again.

"You'll be back?"

"Rory would kill me if I kept her away for another day," she assured him. She kissed him hard one last time.

"Sneak out the back," he warned. "Eyes are everywhere." She smiled as she grabbed her purse and slipped out the door and headed home. She slipped in the front door, slipping her shoes off before she headed for the stairs.

* * *

"Well, hello there," Rory said casually from the couch.

"Gah!" Lorelai exclaimed as she jumped.

"So, good talk?" she asked with a knowing smile.

"Oh yes," she said, a smile pulling at her lips.

"And we can still go into Luke's?"

"Definitely," she said. Rory nodded and voiced her approval before Lorelai continued on her way upstairs.

* * *

**Charlie's 4 **

* * *

"You're not paying attention," Sookie said with a chuckle as she and bustled around the kitchen in the Dragonfly.

"Sorry?" Lorelai asked, looking up from the fruit on her plate that she was playing.

"I asked how much longer Luke is going to be in Maine?" Luke was still up in Maine helping his sister and TJ after their car accident.

"No idea, he'll phone and say in a couple of days and then that turns into a week or 3 or 6," she said with a roll of her eyes which quickly turned into a frown as she began to consider some recent events.

"What?" Sookie asked when she saw Lorelai furrow her brow.

"Oh damnit!" she said as she rushed out of the kitchen and towards the desk, Sookie watched as the stool Lorelai had been on teetered on it's legs. Lorelai frantically flipped through the reservation book, looking at dates and counting weeks. "It's gotta be stress," she muttered to herself. After all, trying to hold together a relationship, open a new business and deal with Rory and her break up with Ryan, her first college boy friend, wasn't exactly a walk in the park. But, there was still that niggling feeling in the back of her head. It had been there when her debutante dress hadn't fit and it had been there again when she forgot to buy tampons . . .

"What was that all about?" Sookie asked as Lorelai wandered back into the kitchen.

"Remember how you told me you and Jackson bought in bulk?" she whispered to Sookie. Sookie got a confused look on her face. "Before Davy came along?"

"Really?" she asked when she finally got it.

"Here's hoping I have an over active imagination," she said as she headed to her office. She tried to remember if she and Luke had used anything. She was always on the pill these days, especially after Charlie but, it was never 100. "I've really got to stop living up to my mothers expectations," she muttered after closing the door to her office.

* * *

"You're quiet," Luke commented as the pair shared a late night conversation after she had put Charlie to bed.

"Stuff on my mind," she said, trying to sound cheerful when in reality, she was freaking out about the little plastic stick sitting in the bathroom.

"Inn stuff?" he asked.

"Not exactly," she said hesitantly.

"Then what?" Luke was met only with silence. "Lorelai?"

"I'm late," she blurted out. "And that same feeling I had after forgetting to buy the tampons is back."

"What?" was all he could say.

"Late Luke, and not the kind of late that is excusable after an apology!" This time she was met with silence.

"But we never. . . without anything . . . how?"

"I don't know for sure. It might just be stress and I'm over reacting." The both fell quiet as they heard a ding in the back ground.

"Please tell me that's dinner," he muttered.

"Well, it's definitely an oven timer," she said as she trudged upstairs and into the bathroom. "Oh Thank God," she said when she picked up the stick and it was negative. "I have finally failed one of these damned things," she muttered as she tossed it in the garbage. She heard Luke breath a sigh of relief as well.

"When I get home, we are having a serious discussion about this," he said firmly.

"About what? I think we both know where babies come from."

"About protection!" he whispered harshly.

"You don't want any kids at all?" she asked him as she left the bathroom.

"I don't know," he said quickly. "Charlie's only 4 and we're still pretty new . . ."

"And now is not good," she agreed.

"Not good at all. And honestly? I think this just took 5 years off of my life." She chuckled a little as she headed downstairs and towards the kitchen.

"You and me both," she said as they fell into an easy, light conversation.

* * *

**Charlie's first birthday**

* * *

"Okay, birthday week planning. How do you plan a birthday week for a one year old?" Rory asked as she and her mother sat at the kitchen table.

"Very skilfully," she said with a smirk as she glanced at Charlie who was napping in the play pen in the living room. "A trip to Luke's, for one. the park, a day of horrendous TV shows that she seems to like. . . stuff like that."

"And cake," Rory said, jotting that down on the top of the list.

"But of course," Lorelai said. "What is a birthday without cake?"

"Just another day," Rory noted as she started to work out a schedule. "What about Grandma and Grandpa?"

"What about them?"

"Are we including them in this?"

"Your grandmother is already making her own plans. She called to ask if Charlie still looked good in pink the other day."

"Oh no."

"Oh yes." They both shuddered a little as they thought about this. This meant some kind of ridiculous party. The pair sat at the table, working everything out until Charlie announced her presence in the front room. "You finish up," Lorelai said as she went to get Charlie. "Hi sleepy head," she whispered to the baby as she picked her up. Charlie rubbed at her eyes for a moment before she settled against her mother. Lorelai made herself comfortable on the couch as she held Charlie close, enjoying the warm, sleepy baby as she woke up.

"I think it's done," Rory said as she came out of the kitchen a few moments later.

"Hear that baby, birthday week is a go," Lorelai said as she held Charlie while she stood on her thighs. Charlie beamed before reaching out to Rory. "How's the guest list looking?"

"Good," Rory said as she took Charlie from Lorelai before she rattled off everyone they were inviting. "I think this is not so much a party for her as it is for us," Rory said as she realised there was no one under 17 on the guest list.

"Parties don't really become for the kid until they're about 3," Lorelai reasoned. "It's just the way of things. Besides, we're way too cool for those gymboree babies."

"But of course!" Rory agreed as she deposited Charlie on the floor so she could go and play.

* * *

"Where's your sister?" Luke asked Rory a week later.

"They're coming. Why?" she asked.

"You guys are early. Come back in 10 minutes," he said as he shooed Rory towards the door.

"What?"

"Go, 10 minutes," he said, pushing her out the door. Rory looked over her shoulder at him again before she wandered off to find her mother and Charlie, who were currently talking with Patty and Babette.

"He said to come back in ten minutes," Rory said with a shrug as she joined the conversation.

Meanwhile, Luke rushed around the diner. He tied the balloons he got to the high chair and put the lone cupcake he had bought from Weston's on the table, their table, in the back corner before he returned to the counter, looking cool and collected when the trio finally came back in.

"Lucas!" Lorelai exclaimed when she saw what he had done.

"What?" he asked. "It was like that when I got here." They all knew he was lying, but she didn't really say anything else. Charlie was oblivious to the whole exchange, all her attention was focused on the balloons that were still out of her reach. She squealed a little and kicked her feet until her mother obliged and brought her over, sitting her in the chair before he came over and presented all three of them with Chocolate Chip pancakes.

"Oh Luke, you old softie," Rory chuckled as they all dug in.

"You keep that to yourself," he said, pointing a finger at Rory.

"Too late," Lorelai said when she saw Patty and Babette come in and immediately start pointing at the balloons.

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

**Charlie's 15**

* * *

"What are you drinking?"

"Coffee," Charlie replied as she pushed one book away from her and pulled the other towards her

"You hate coffee," Lorelai pointed out to the 15 year old.

"I also have finals. Finals out weigh my hate of coffee," she assured her mother as he took a pull from the cup and grimaced.

"Oh! Baby's first coffee!" Lorelai said. "The only time I was ever prouder of you was when you took your first step."

"Mom," Charlie complained. "Shakespeare," she said gesturing to the text book. Lorelai sighed and rolled her eyes, remembering Rory's adventures with the English lit class at Chilton.

"Speaking of Shakespeare, how are your grades in that class?" she asked cautiously. "At mid term they weren't all that great."

"They're fine."

"Fine by Rory standards or fine by my standards?"

"By my standards. Do you want me to study or not?" she asked, becoming irritated.

"Fine, I'm going," she said as she backed out of Charlie's room.

"Close the door!" she called and Lorelai did just that. Charlie sighed as she looked back to her text books. Inside she was freaking out. She needed at least an 85 on this final or her average was going to dip to a 75 in English Lit.

She hadn't meant to skip that many classes, it was just that Danny Peltonien was so cute and he was her first boyfriend. She sighed hard and took another pull of the coffee. "Stupid boys," she muttered as she went back to her cramming.

* * *

Luke yawned as he crept down from the bed room and headed to the kitchen for a quick cup of tea before he headed to the diner for the day. He paused for a moment when he noticed the light still coming from under Charlie's door. He knocked lightly and stuck his head in.

"Did you sleep at all?" he asked when he saw the various paper balls and coffee cups that littered the floor.

"Not yet," she said, not looking up from what ever she was doing.

"How much trouble are you in, Charlie?" he asked as he came to sit down on the bed. He watched as she hesitated. "Are you failing?"

"No!" she said quickly as she turned around. "I just. . . I really screwed up," she finally admitted. "I really, really screwed up and by the time I figured it out, finals were a week away. I did all the extra credit I could, but I really need to ace this exam." Luke studied her for a moment.

"Okay," he said as he stood up.

"Really? You're not gonna tell mom?" she asked hopefully.

"No," he said. "You always come through when you need to, and if you don't, she'll find out as soon as your report card comes home."

"You're not mad?"

"I'm disappointed," he said as he pulled her out of her chair and wrapped his arms around her. "But, you always seem to learn from your mistakes, so I don't think this is going to happen again, is it?"

"No," she said as she hung on to Luke. "It's not. Thanks Pop," she said quietly. She and Rory had started calling him Pop shortly after he and Lorelai had married. Luke stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head before he pulled away.

"Get back to work," he said. "If you need to escape later today, the apartment is all yours."

"Thanks," she said with a nod as she stepped away and went back to her desk.

Luke watched her for a moment longer before he left the room and closed the door again. As he made himself tea, he made a fresh pot of coffee and when it was ready, he filled a thermos.

"Here," he said as he handed it to Charlie. "I added some Ovaltine, make it taste better," he pointed out.

"Thanks," she said with a smile as she took the thermos.

"No problem," he said as he ducked out again and headed to the diner.

* * *

**Lorelai's pregnant with Charlie**

* * *

Lorelai groaned as she heard the knocking on the front door. She moaned as she hauled herself out of bed and stomped down the stairs.

"Keep your shorts on!" she growled as she finally got down and opened the door. "Luke?" she asked when she opened the door.

"Hey," he said as he came in.

"You're drunk," she pointed out as she guided him to the couch.

"You're pregnant," he pointed out as they both collapsed on the couch.

"Thanks, I hadn't noticed that yet," she said sarcastically. "What are you doing here?" she asked him.

"Where's Rory?"

"At Lane's. Why are you here?" she asked again as she got up from the couch.

"Because I am," he replied with a smile. "Where are you going?"

"To make you some coffee," she said as she slowly got up from the couch and wandered to the kitchen.

"Don't drink coffee," he slurred.

"Yes, yes, instant death," she said as she went about her business anyways. "I am too tired and too pregnant to deal with a sick drunk. So, I say again, Luke, why are you drunk?"

"Rachel's gone," he said.

"What?" she asked as she peaked around the corner at him.

"Said she couldn't stay if I had a thing for someone else."

"You player," she said, trying to cover her disappointment. "Who's the lucky lady?"

"No lady," he said. "She doesn't know what she's talking about. What are you doing?"

"Making you coffee," she repeated as the coffee finished brewing. "Here," she said as she walked slowly back out to the couch.

"Thanks," he said as he took it and took a sip. "Horrible."

"Keep drinking," she said as she leaned against him, closing her eyes.

"You tired?" he asked.

"I'm always tired," she muttered as she got comfortable against him.

"Lorelai?"

"Yes Luke?"

"I'm sorry I came. I'm drunk."

"Yes, you are," she said with a smile as she patted his leg.

* * *

Luke groaned as he woke up the next morning. His head was pounding and he felt like he had been eating cotton for the last 8 hours.

"Hey sailor," Lorelai called to him as she dropped a bag of taco's in his lap. "Eat up."

"This is death in a bag," he told her as he tried to get his bearings.

"No, this is hang over food. Have this and I'll get you some water," she assured him.

"You're chipper this morning," he said as he unwrapped one of the tacos.

"I got another 7 hours after you passed out. Thanks, by the way."

"For what?" he asked around a mouthful of taco.

"For not throwing up. I appreciate that," she said as she handed him a glass of water.

"I wasn't that drunk," he said slowly.

"Luke, you showed up on my door step at 1 am, going on and on about Rachel being gone and you could not get over the fact that I was pregnant." She watched as Luke blushed slightly as he finished off the taco and the glass of water.

"I should go," he said as he stood up. "The diner . . ."

"Right," she said as she plucked the second taco from the bag and handed it to him. "Finish this, or you'll regret it."

"I already regret this," he said as he held it in his hand.

"Eat it! I speak from experience. And drink another glass of water or two!"

* * *

**Still pregnant**

* * *

"What do you want?"

"You go first," Rory said.

"I don't know what I want," Lorelai said, still reading the menu.

"Go first. I don't want to order then loose my appetite."

"Why would that happen? Is that even possible?" Luke asked.

"It is," Rory confirmed.

"It's not that bad," Lorelai countered.

"Asparagus and white chocolate with a side of olives? You don't even like olives in your martinis!" Rory said.

"I had that one time!"

"And I had to watch you eat it. Order!"

"Fine. I want. . . An omelette with jack and cheddar cheese, home fries and a side of bacon."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Luke pointed out.

"Wait for it," Rory said, sitting back in her chair and waiting.

"I also want a chocolate milkshake and could you blend in some avocado and orange?"

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said with a nod and a smile.

"Dry toast?" he asked Rory.

"Yeah," she answered as she sipped her coffee. "If you say anything I will move this coffee cup under your nose."

"Mean!"

"Deal with it," she said. "Do you know how hard it is to survive until lunch on toast?" Lorelai shrugged as Luke brought out the food.

"Yum!" she said as she dug in. Luke looked at Rory and jerked his head towards the counter. She got up and followed him.

"Real food," she said as she saw the pancakes and bacon waiting for her.

"Separate tables may be advisable at this point in time," he whispered to her as he poured her a fresh cup of coffee.

"I whole heartedly agree," Rory said as she dug in with a gusto.


	11. Chapter 11

**Charlie's 4**

* * *

"We don't really need to do this," Lorelai said to Luke as he showed her a plan he had made for renovating the house. "I mean, Rory only lives here part time, so Charlie has a room to herself."

"You haven't seen the next page."

"You have been busy," Lorelai said as she looked over the second page.

"Bigger bedroom, bigger bathroom. . . and after that is done, we could expand Rory and Charlie's bed room, give them a little more space for when Rory does come home," Luke pointed out as he looked over at Lorelai casually.

"Well, look at you turning into a provider and protector," she said with a big smile.

"Please, I have been providing and protecting you and the girls since I met you. So, good idea?"

"Have you ever lived through home renovations?"

"Yes, a few times," he told her as he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"Have you ever lived through them with a 4 year old?" she asked.

"Her room isn't going to be done until the upstairs is done," he said, waiting for her next excuse to come. "If it's really a problem, the two of you can move into the apartment."

"You're so sweet," she told him with a smile as she kissed his check. "Fine, if it makes you happy we'll do this," she finally conceded. Luke offered her a self satisfied smile as he gathered the plans again.

"I'll find an architect tomorrow," he said with a nod.

* * *

"Is Tom gonna do the building?" Charlie asked eagerly when they sat her down to talk about the renovations.

"Most likely, yes," Lorelai said with a smile. Tom had been sweet to her during the construction at the Dragonfly and as far as Charlie was concerned, he was one of her closest friends

"Oh good," she said with a smile. "When do we eat?" she asked as she turned to Luke who was standing behind the counter at the diner. He shook his head before he headed to the back to bring out their plates.

* * *

"Mom!" Charlie moaned as she headed for the stairs a few days later.

"Luke!" Lorelai yelled at him as she rolled out of bed.

"It's too early!" the Gilmore Girls both moaned as Lorelai scooped up Charlie before completing her quest to track Luke down. Charlie clapped a hand over the ear that wasn't pressed into Lorelai's shoulder.

"It is not too early," Luke said casually as he wandered back into the bedroom. "It's 7am."

"Make them go home!" Charlie moaned.

"Luke, we're delicate," Lorelai said as she rubbed Charlie's back. "We need our beauty sleep. We don't stay beautiful by waking up with the sun." Luke put his hands on his hips as he stared at them. "Come on Luke!"

"Fine, tomorrow, they'll be here later. 7:15 work for you?"

"Lucas!" Lorelai cried as he smirked and turned away, and headed down the stairs.

"Fine! 8 am tomorrow and from now on! Come on, I'll make breakfast."

"I'm still tired," Charlie whined, making no effort to get up from Lorelai's shoulder.

"Me too," she said. "But, we're up now and Luke is cooking. Chances are good that chocolate chip pancakes are coming our way."

"With whipped cream?" she asked, cracking an eye open.

"All signs point to yes. Go get dressed," she said, setting Charlie down and giving her a pat on the behind to get her going. Charlie grumbled a little as she wandered back down stairs. Lorelai glanced out her window and scowled at the construction guys before she grabbed an outfit and headed to the bathroom.

* * *

"Whatcha doin'?" Charlie asked a week later when Luke and Dave, one of the guys working on the house, picked up the couch, with her on it, and moved it across the room.

"Moving the furniture," Luke replied.

"Why?"

"Because we started work on the bedroom."

"Why?"

"Because we're making it bigger. "

"Why?"

"Because we want a bigger bedroom."

"Why?"

"Why are you asking so many questions?" he finally asked, hands on his hips.

"How else am I gonna learn?" she asked him, not understanding how he could even ask such a question.

"We're rearranging the furniture down here so that we can move the furniture from the bedroom down here. Anything that doesn't fit is going in storage for a while."

"Oh, okay," Charlie said with a smile and shrug as she hopped off the couch and skipped off to her room.

"Cute kid," Dave said before he and Luke went back to moving.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Luke asked a few nights later.

"I'm trying to get lucky and you're making it difficult," she muttered as he rebuffed her attempts again.

"Charlie is right down the hall!" he said.

"Her door is closed," she reasoned. "And I can control myself, can you?"

"Lorelai! I will sleep on the couch," he warned.

"Fine," she said in a huff as she rolled over to her side of the bed.

* * *

"Oh my God!" Lorelai squealed as she quickly dashed back into the bathroom. She leaned against the door as she collected herself. She had forgotten about the new window that had been put in. She was going to have to rethink her naked bathroom run.

"What?" Luke called up.

"Nothing!" she called back to him, now wrapped in a robe as she headed to the bedroom. Definitely going to have to rethink that naked bathroom run.

* * *

"And we have our first casualty of the renovation," Lorelai said over the phone.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked as he refilled some coffee cups.

"Charlie tripped over some lumber stacked up on the porch."

"She okay?" he asked, starting to worry.

"Scrapped up her knee and twisted her ankle," she said casually. "Her ankle will probably be fine by tomorrow, so we're just gonna keep an eye on it."

"She need anything?" he asked. "Things are pretty quiet around here right now."

"Nah, we're good," she said. "We have enough supplies at the moment.

"Well, call me if you need anything."

"Will do," she said as they said their good byes before she hung up.

* * *

"Hey, dinner's here," Luke called as he wandered into the house later that evening.

"In here," Lorelai called. He came in to see Lorelai sitting on one end of the couch with a pillow in her lap and Charlie's foot on top of it.

"Hey," he said as he kissed her hello. "I thought you said her ankle was nothing big," he said when he took a good look at things.

"It only recently started to swell," Lorelai filled in.

"How are you?" he asked her.

"It hurts," she complained. "What's for dinner?"

"Not that much, apparently," he rattled off what was in the bags.

"Yum," Charlie said with a smile. "Let's go," she said as she kind of sat up. Luke shook his head and handed Lorelai the bags as he picked Charlie up and headed for the kitchen.

* * *

"I think you need to take her for x-rays," Luke said the next morning when he saw Lorelai carrying Charlie around.

"I think you're right," she said as she sat Charlie on the kitchen counter so both she and Luke could take a look at her ankle. "After breakfast," Lorelai said.

"Of course," Luke said, rolling his eyes as Charlie giggled. After breakfast, Lorelai and Charlie were on their way to the hospital in Woodbridge. Luke would have come, but he had given Lane the day off and couldn't leave Caesar by himself in the diner.

"I'm bored," Charlie volunteered after they had been sitting in the ER for a few hours.

"Me too," Lorelai admitted.

"How much longer?"

"Well, we're behind the elderly, the dying, the bleeding and all other people with leaking bodily fluids."

"Gross," Charlie said as she wrinkled up her nose.

"It's gonna be a while longer," a nurse said as she came over with an ice pack. "I'll just put this on, help with the swelling," she said as she strapped the ice pack to Charlie's ankle.

"Hey, would it be possible to slip down to the cafeteria?"

"Sure, they'll page you if you're not here when your turn comes up."

"Great," Lorelai said as she scooped Charlie up and they started to wander around the hospital.

* * *

"So, what's the verdict?" Luke asked when he saw Lorelai come back in.

"I got a cast!" Charlie said excitedly as she hobbled in.

"No crutches?" he asked when he watched Charlie hobble over to a table.

"No," Lorelai said. "It's not broken, just a sprain. But, because she's four and wild, they decided to cast it and build up the bottom so that she can just walk around without the burden of crutches."

"Interesting," he said. "This is going to make our lives more difficult, isn't it?"

"By 10 fold," she said with a smile as she placed their orders.

* * *

"They're going?" Charlie asked.

"They're done, the work is finished," Luke said as he put a plate of eggs in front of Charlie. "In fact, I don't think they even need to come in today."

"They're already gone?"

"Why are you so upset?" Luke asked her, not understanding this at all.

"You didn't tell me they were going! I didn't even get to say goodbye!" she flopped back in her chair and started to pout.

"Are you mad at me too?" Luke asked when Lorelai stalked in and sat down without greeting Luke.

"You didn't tell me they were leaving today!"

"He's mean!" Charlie said.

"He is!" Lorelai agreed. Luke rolled his eyes and returned to the stove.

"Here," he said putting a plate in front of Lorelai.

"Liar eggs?" she asked. Charlie couldn't help but giggle.

"Eat'em don't eat'em, I don't care!" he said as he threw his hands in the air. "I'm going to where the sane people are!"

"Where's that?"

"Amazingly enough, the diner!" he said as he stalked out. Charlie and Lorelai watched him go before they giggled and began to eat, they'd apologise later.

* * *

**Still 4**

* * *

"Do you have any more of these?" Lorelai asked the cashier at the stationary shop.

"We don't have a lot of call for purple post-it notes," she said.

"Hmmm . . . I'll take these then," she said as she put a basket full of purple post-it notes. The clerk looked at her a little funny as she rung them up, but didn't say anything.

* * *

"Okay, I got'em," she told Rory and Charlie when she got home. 

"That's it?" Rory asked.

"That's all they had," Lorelai said with a shrug as she dumped them out onto the kitchen table and she and the girls began unwrapping them.

"Is this going to be enough?" Charlie asked.

"It'll have to be. We'll just space them apart, like tiles," Lorelai said with a shrug. Charlie grabbed the first stack she had unwrapped and ran into her room and started sticking them to her wall. Lorelai and Rory chuckled as they each grabbed a pack and headed in to start sticking as well.

"I like it," Charlie said as they sat back on her bed and observed the now purple post-it covered wall.

"But?" Rory prompted.

"Not this dark. It's too Barney," she said.

"Ah! Baby's first pop culture reference! I'm so proud!" Lorelai exclaimed as she threw her arms around Charlie who just giggled.

"I agree, on all accounts," Rory said.

"You barely even live here anymore," Charlie said.

"Yes, but when I do end up here, I don't want to have crazy grape dreams," Rory said. Charlie responded by sticking out her tongue. Rory quickly returned the favour.

"Hey, anyone home?" Luke called out.

"In here!" Lorelai called out.

"What are you guys. . . Whoa," he said when he saw the wall. "What is this?" he asked, pointing to the wall.

"We're gonna paint!" Charlie said with a large smile.

"That I know," he said.

"We wanted to make sure we liked the colour," Rory said with a smile.

"It's very. . . purple."

"Just what we were going for!" Lorelai exclaimed. "A job well done ladies."

"Indeed!" Rory chimed in.

"What now?" Charlie asked.

"Dinner. Get changed," Luke said. "A nice dress," he threw in.

"Why?" Rory and Charlie both asked.

"The work!" Luke said. "Just do it."

"Yes dad," they both said with a giggle and an eye roll. Luke pointed at them before he grabbed Lorelai's hand and pulled her out of the room.

* * *

"Gorgeous!" Lorelai exclaimed when she saw Rory and Charlie. Charlie giggled as she spun around a little. Rory had heated up the curling iron and now Charlie's kind of curly hair was in real ringlet's, hanging down her back, held back from her face with a baby blue ribbon. Rory had curled her hair as well, though not as tightly as she had done Charlie's and hers was parted to the side, held in place by two jewelled bobby pins.

"Good dress?" Charlie asked. Rory had helped her pick out a periwinkle sundress with beaded waist belt.

"Excellent dress," Lorelai confirmed. "You're is excellent as well," she told Rory.

"Thanks," she said as she smoothed the skirt a little. Her dress was white eyelet cotton with blue flowers around the hem. "Not bad yourself," she said, admiring Lorelai's pink cocktail dress.

"Okay," Luke said as he came down in a pair of slacks and a nice dress shirt. "Ready?" The girls all agreed. "Let's go then," he said as purses, wallets and keys were grabbed.

"This car is still weird," Lorelai said as they piled in. While Luke still had the truck, he had broken down and bought a family car. ("With April in the picture more, it just made sense," he had told Lorelai with a shrug.)

"I like it!" Charlie said with a smile as she climbed in.

"Well, who can argue with that?" Luke asked.

* * *

"So, what was tonight all about?" Lorelai asked Luke after Charlie was in bed and Rory was happily elbow deep in paper business.

"I dunno," he said as she took his shirt off. "I just felt like taking everyone out."

"Okay," she said as she turned around and he unzipped her dress.

"Your mother came to see me the other day," he said.

"Oh no," she said as she turned to start arguing with him.

"She wants to buy us a house," he told her. "She asked me what I thought and showed me some pictures and I have to admit, it's really nice."

"Really?" she asked him, not really believing this.

"It's a good size, lots of rooms, lots of land and it's not that much further from the diner or the Inn," he held his hands up to keep her from going on. "I know you love this house, but there's barely room for April to stay over when she comes and there's even less if Rory is here. And if we were to have any more kids . . ."

"You want more kids?" she asked him. This topic had yet to really be talked about.

"I dunno, maybe, if it happens. Later though. Anyway, the house?"

"I want to see it," she said. "Before I make any decisions."

"Of course," he said as he kissed her. "It's a really nice house," he assured her.

"I bet it is," she said as she wandered into the bathroom, trying to figure out exactly how all of this had happened.

* * *

**Charlie's 6**

* * *

Lorelai sat quietly out side of his room in an uncomfortable chair. She leaded forward, elbows resting on her knees as she rested her head in her hands. She wished Luke was here, but he was walking Maddy around, mostly to keep her quiet, but kind of hoping she'd fall asleep.

It had been a long day for everyone.

"Mom?" she heard to her left and her head jerked up.

"Hey baby," she said as she held her arms out to Charlie. The 6 year old scurried over and climbed into the refuge of her mothers lap. The pair sat quietly for a moment, the only sound being made was the soft rustle of clothes as Charlie made herself comfortable and Lorelai stroked her hair.

"He's gonna be ok, right?"

"I hope so," she replied as she dropped a kiss on the top of Charlie's head. "He has to be," she said, a small smile forming on her lips. "Grandma will kill him if he isn't." She heard a sniffly giggle come from Charlie and she couldn't help but keep the smile on her face a little longer.

"Where's Grandma?" Charlie finally asked. "She left after I climbed up with Grandpa."

"Rory and Marty took her to the cafeteria," she said. At least she was pretty sure that was where they had ended up. Emily had all but burst out of her husband's hospital room shortly after Charlie had gone in. Lorelai had been busy with Luke and Maddy and by the time she realised what was going on, Rory and Marty had already stepped up to escort her to where ever she wanted to go.

"I'm ready, let's go," Charlie said as she uncurled herself and slid off of Lorelai's lap.

"If we leave, Luke won't know where we are," Lorelai said as she held Charlie in place in front of her.

"But I need to see Grandma," she said. "I haveta tell her something."

"Give him 5 minutes," she whispered as she pulled the little girl back onto her lap.

* * *

Lorelai sighed as she stood outside of the door to Richard's room. Part of her brain was smirking at the fact that she had stood in exactly this position 6 years ago, doing exactly the same thing and wearing almost exactly the same clothes. She heaved one last sigh before slipping silently into the room.

"Hi dad," she said softly when she saw he was awake. He smiled weakly at her and she returned it as she pulled a chair over to the bed. "How do you feel?" They slid into a slow, quiet conversation, mostly because she didn't know what to say and he didn't have the energy for anything else. "You know I love you, right?" she asked after Rory had stuck her head in to tell her visiting hours were over. "I mean, I know I don't say it often, well, ever, but I do. You know that right?" she asked as she leaned in in close to him. He studied her face for a long moment.

"I know," he answered simply, a lazy smile on his face as he reached a hand up to touch her face "I know, Lorelai."

"Good," she said with a nod as she fought the urge to jump up and run.

"Take your girls home," he whispered to her. "It's late, it's been a long day. For everyone."

"I'll come back to see you tomorrow," she assured him as she finally stood from her chair and dropped a kiss on his forehead before she finally ducked out of the room. She stood, her back pressed to the door for a moment before Rory finally came over and threw her arms around her mother. "Let's go home," she said when she finally let go of Rory. Lorelai plucked a sleeping Charlie from Marty's arms and held her close as Luke, Maddy now asleep on his shoulder, threw his free arm over Lorelai's shoulders. Marty quickly took Rory's hand, whispering a few words in her ear before they followed her mother and step father out to their cars.

* * *


	12. Chapter 12

**Charlie's 6**

* * *

"Is it wrong that I feel kind of dirty making my 6 year old daughter a black cocktail dress?"

"Is it sparkly?" Rory asked as over the phone, finishing up a paper for school.

"Yes, it is actually."

"Then no, it's not wrong that you feel a little dirty. It is for a dance recital though, right?"

"Yeah, but still! Everyone is going to see her in this! My baby!"

"I thought I was your baby," Rory complained.

"She's my other baby. And Maddy is my other other baby."

"Like pork is the other white meat?" she asked with a smirk.

"Rory," Lorelai warned as she snipped a few threads and held the little dress up to see. Rory giggled a little and Lorelai relented.

"It's fine that you feel weird about making Charlie a cocktail dress, better?"

"Much. Hold on," she said as she took the phone from her ear. "Charlie, come'er!" she yelled. The 6 year old bounded up the stairs a few minutes later. "Try it on," she said, tossing the dress to Charlie.

"Oh boy!" she said as she scurried off to the bathroom.

"Now, where were we?"

"Are you going to Friday night dinner?" Rory asked.

"Oh, I suppose," she said.

"Good. Grandma's having a theme dinner next week."

"What? You can't be serious!" she moaned as her face fell. "A dinner party?"

"Yup," Rory said with a chuckle.

"I'm wearing the white suit," she said all of a sudden.

"You hate that suit, you said it made you look like a Stay-Puff marshmallow."

"I've been provoked now," she said as she wandered towards the bathroom to check on Charlie. "A theme party without warning me . . . I should let Charlie wear what ever she wants to this, bonus points if she picks the cocktail dress. How is it?" she asked as she knocked on the door.

"Miss Patty is kidding about this, right?" Charlie asked from the bathroom.

"I better go, wardrobe crisis," Lorelai told Rory.  
"Don't wear the white suit," Rory pleaded before she hung up.

"Let's see," Lorelai said as she opened the door. She watched as Charlie tried to pull the hem of the dress down while trying to pull the top up. "It's a dance costume sweetie, it's okay." Charlie dropped her hands and shifted uncomfortably.

"I don't like it."

"You're gonna have tights and your leotard on underneath. That help?" Charlie shrugged. "Wear it around the house a little, get used to it, freak Luke out. And that is just an added perk." Charlie sighed and started to leave the bathroom before she ducked back in and slipped back into her pants. Oh yeah, this week was going to be interesting.

* * *

**Charlie's 5 or 6**

* * *

"Charlie, turn it down a little," Luke called to her as he paced the length of the hallway between the den and the kitchen, the whole length of the house. Charlie sighed and rolled her eyes as she left the volume where it was. All she heard these days was 'Charlie, turn it down.' or 'Charlie, later, I'm too tired.' "Charlie, please," Luke said again. She looked over her shoulder at him and her eyes focused in on the baby on his shoulder. Your Sister, since there was no name yet, seemed to be asleep for once.

"I was here first," she finally told him as she turned back to the TV.

"Charlie," he started.

"I was here first," she said again. "In this room, in this house, in this family, on this planet. I was here first!" she yelled, loud enough to wake the baby. She scowled as she turned the TV up so she could hear it over the crying.

"Charlotte Abigail," he said as he marched over and turned off the TV before helping her to her feet. "Go," he said pointing in the direction of her room. Charlie scowled at him and held her ground.

"No," she said simply. "I don't want to."

"Let me help you then," he said as he took her arm again and marched her to her room. "You can come out when you can behave," he told her as he shut the door. Charlie stood in the middle of the room for a moment before she caught a glance at the window. She wrote out a note for her parents, announcing to them that she was running away. She wrote 'to Rory' at first, but erased it. She instead said she'd call when she got to where she was going. She grabbed her backpack and dumped her school stuff out, instead shoving in a couple of changes of clothes and her blankie. She zipped it up, tossed it on, grabbed a sweater and heaved her window open before she shimmied out the window and headed for town.

* * *

"Rory?"

"Hey Charlie!" she said brightly into her cell phone. "Whatcha doin'?"

"I'm runnin' away from home. Can I live with you now?" Rory paused for a moment.

"Why?"

"'Cause I don't have any where else to go," she said simply.

"Where do mom and Luke think you are?"

"My room," she answered. "I left a note."

"Stay in the diner, I'll be there in about an hour," she said as she hung up and grabbed her keys.

"Where are you going?" Marty asked.

"Charlie is running away from home. I need to call my mom and Luke and pick Charlie up for at least the night. Wanna come?"

"Sure why not?" Marty asked. After dating Rory for almost a year, almost nothing that came out of her mouth surprised him. "Want me to drive?"

"Sure, I have calls to make," Rory replied casually as they headed out of her dorm room and to her car. "Hey Luke," she said brightly when he picked up the phone.

"You're mom's asleep," he said.

"That's fine, I just wanted to let you know that Charlie is running away from home," she said casually. She held the phone away from her ear as Luke freaked out for a moment. She looked to Marty who was smirking slightly at this. "I'm on my way to pick her up, she's hiding out at the diner. I'll bring her home tomorrow,"

"Why is she running away?"

"I'm not sure, we'll work it out," she assured him. The conversation fell to lighter topics for a while before they both hung up. "It's over the baby," he told Marty when she hung up.

"How do you know?"

"She may be loud and confident, but she's pretty insecure about her family and I don't blame her. I mean, dad was in and out of our lives, more out than in after Gigi came along, and she freaked out once already that Luke was gonna leave and I wouldn't be surprised if that's what's gong on again. From what I hear, this My Sister is pretty high strung."

"Still no name?"

"They were planning on a boy," she said with a shrug. "I think, last I heard, it was down to Madeline Elizabeth or Alexandria Elise."

"Wow," was all Marty could say.

"They're trying to decide which they like better, Maddy or Allie. Personally, I think Maddy has more resonance when yelled up a flight of stairs, but, whatever." Marty chuckled and shook his head. Life with a Gilmore Girl was never boring.

* * *

"Do we need to pick up anything else?" Marty asked as they headed back to Yale. Rory and Charlie had insisted that they needed supplies, so they had been driving all over New Haven.

"Nope, I think we're done. Home Jeeves," Rory said with a smile. Rory glanced back at Charlie who was staring out at the now familiar scenery that was whizzing past as they drove. She sighed a little before she tuned back into what Marty was saying.

* * *

"So, how long are you planning to stay?" Rory asked at some point during the 2nd movie. Charlie shrugged and played with her straw. "I see."

"Can you make them send her back?" she finally asked. "All she does is cry and the only time she's not crying is when Luke is walking her up and down the long hallway."

"It'll get better," Rory said with a chuckle.

"Did you want to send me back?"

"When I was trying to study and you wouldn't shut up? Yes," she said. "But, then I'd either escape to Luke's or Lane's house or mom would take you off somewhere and I'd study and everything would be okay." Charlie considered this for a moment.

"I liked it better before."

"I know, I did too at first. But, she'll get bigger and you'll actually be able to do stuff with her instead of just watching her sleep and it'll be kind of cool. You'll have some one to play with all the time in a couple of years," Rory assured her with a shrug. "Besides that, being a big sister is an important job. Everything you and me do, you're gonna do that for little No Name." Rory watched as Charlie chewed this over.

"Fine," she said as she turned her attention back to the movie.

"They haven't phoned yet because I called them," she whispered.

"Oh," she replied. Rory smirked as Charlie relaxed into the couch. "Do I haveta go back tomorrow?"

"No, but if you're gonna stay, you have to call them tomorrow. Deal?"

"Fine," she grumbled. Nothing more was said for the rest of the movie.

* * *

"Go on," Rory prompted after Paris had left for the day. "I'll be in here," she said as she disappeared into her room. Charlie stared at the phone for a long moment before she finally picked it up and dialled. The conversation was slow and painful between her and Luke. He kept trying to draw things out of the little girl, but she wasn't budging. She was mad and she wanted to stay mad and he was trying to make her not be mad any more. He eventually passed her along to her mother who tried the same thing.

"It's okay to be mad Charlie," Lorelai had finally said near the end of the conversation. "You be mad as long as you want, ok?" Charlie had assured her mother that that was good because she intended to be mad for a long time. "Well, we'll see you on Sunday night. Please slam many doors when you get home."

"I will!" she said as she hung up angrily. "It's not fair!" she finally cried.

"Why?" Rory called out.

"They want me to be mad!" Rory laughed when she heard this. "It's not funny!" Charlie hollered back before she turned on the TV and Rory went back to her studying.

* * *

"Still mad?" Luke asked when he greeted his girls on Sunday. Charlie shot him a rather nasty look as she pushed past him and into her room. "Still mad?" he asked Rory. Rory snickered and shook her head.

"She's mad that mom told her she could stay mad as long as she liked. And that she should slam many doors and throw many tantrums. Now she's not really sure what to do." Luke smiled as he invited Rory in. She accepted, but just long enough to dash upstairs and greet her mother and sister before dashing out again to spend a little time with Lane before heading back to Yale.

"So," he said as he leaned on the door frame to Charlie's room. "I found a little rope ladder the other day and I hooked it up. To make the window escaping easier next time," he told Charlie. He waited to see if she was going to answer him. "I know that window isn't that far from the ground, but how much would it suck if you got hurt climbing out and couldn't run away?"

"I don't need any help," she finally said, her back still to Luke as she emptied her bag.

"Oh, I know," he replied as he left her to her brooding.

* * *

"How long is she going to keep this up?" Luke asked Lorelai one night a few weeks later. She shrugged as he took Maddy from her before she crawled into bed.

"She's a Gilmore, we're stubborn," she said with a bit of a smirk.

"It's been three weeks," he replied.

"I know and you know that if you start laying down ultimatums, she'll be mad longer. I'll deal with it tomorrow," she assured him as he came to bed.

* * *

"So, just wanted to let you know that we're getting rid of Maddy," she told Charlie over breakfast. "She's just too much work."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we found a great orphanage who will put her to work as soon as she can walk. And maybe, if she's good, some one will come and take her home. Though she'll probably have to work hard there too, earn her keep and what not." Lorelai watched as Charlie fidgeted in her seat. "And Luke agrees with me. He wants to be able to just go back to sleeping through the night instead of having to get up with her. He says he's had enough of the walking up and down the hall."

"You're really gonna send her away?" she asked after a moment.

"Well yeah. I mean, you were here first, in this house, in this family, on the planet after all, and she makes you so mad all the time. . . " Lorelai leaned against the counter as she waited for what she knew was coming.

"You can't give her away! This isn't Oliver Twist!" Lorelai smirked, she still couldn't believe that Rory had read her that novel.

"But I thought. . . "

"I changed my mind!" she yelled as she pushed away from the table and headed upstairs. "You can't get rid of her just because you're too lazy to walk around the house!" she yelled at Luke before stomping back downstairs.

"Uh, okay," he replied, more than a little clueless as to what was going on.

"Now you can't get rid of her," she informed her mother smugly.

"Drat, foiled again," she said as she turned to the coffee maker.

* * *

**Charlie's 3 or 4**

* * *

Charlie sat and listened as he grandmother raged to her grandfather. From what she had picked up, her grandmother was angry about not being invited to a certain party that apparently everyone else had been invited too. Richard finally threw his hands up in defeat and stalked off to his study. Charlie slowly ate her cookies as she listened to Emily in the other room, yelling at someone over the phone.

"Grandma?" she said finally, heading towards her after she had finished. "What's wrong?" she asked as she invited herself onto Emily's lap.

"Nothing," she said tensely as they sat for a moment.

"Is this about a party?"

"Yes," she admitted after a moment.

"It's okay," she said calmly. "You can't go to every party. Leah Tomlin didn't invite me to her party last week," she told Emily. "She invited all the girls but me and Elise White and they had a pool party with a clown and movies and everything and I really, REALLY wanted to go."

"Well, that was very rude of her to exclude only you and one other," Emily said.

"But it's okay," Charlie said quickly. "Cause I wasn't really her friend and mom was right, you can't go to every party. Besides, this means I don't have to invite her to my party," she said with a smile. Emily considered this for a moment.

"You're right," she said after a moment.

"I am?"

"Yes. You can't go to every party and this means I don't have to invite them to my next party. You are a very smart girl, Charlie."

"Well, they don't let just anyone into kindergarten," she replied with a smile as she slid off of Emily's lap and dragged her off to find something to do.

* * *

**Charlie's about 6**

* * *

Charlie frowned as the teacher went on and on about making a card for mom and dad. She shifted uncomfortably as other kids in the class would turn and stare at her, This substitute teacher didn't know that her mom and dad weren't married and didn't even live in the same state.

"Mr. Brass?" some one finally asked. "Charlie doesn't have a dad." She shrunk down in her seat as the class giggled. As he tried to fumble an answer, the bell rang. Charlie was the first one out of the room.

* * *

Mr. Brass was at school again the next day when they started to make the cards. He avoided Charlie as best he could while trying to keep the whispers under control.

"It's too small," Andy pointed out to her. "You did it wrong."

"Did not. There's no wrong way to make a card," she told him before she stole his glitter and tossed his pencil across the room. That would keep him busy for a while.

* * *

Charlie stared at the second card she had made for a long time. The one for her mother was already addressed in an envelope and ready to go but she wasn't sure what to do with the second card. It was pretty generic card as far as she was concerned. Eventually, she signed it, addressed it and slipped it into an envelope.

* * *

"Here," Lane said, handing Luke an envelope on Valentine's Day.

"Lane," he started.

"It's not from me," she assured him, thrusting the card at him again. He rolled his eyes and sighed as he opened it. He made sure no one was looking when he finally pulled the card out. He frowned at the shower of glitter that now covered his hand before he opened it.

'Happy Valentine's Day Dad!' it read. He frowned a little, thinking it had to be a mistake before he saw who it was from. He shook his head and put the card back in the envelope and disappeared into the stock room. He quickly pinned it to the board with the rest of the cards Charlie had left for him. Some of them were addressed to Luke, though most were addressed to dad and he knew that he got them because she was mad at Christopher for whatever he hadn't done this time. And it was also easier just to make the card the way the teacher wanted than to argue with them.

He stared at the board, covered in cards Charlie had given him, every holiday, for the last year. He had been working up the courage to finally ask Lorelai out for some time, but he didn't want to upset Charlie. Maybe the board he kept in the store room was a sign.

That, and Liz's wedding was coming up next week.

* * *

**Charlie's 15**

* * *

"Fuck me with a limp noodle," Charlie muttered as she read her report card.

"Pleasant," Amber said as she came up beside her. "Ouch," she said when she saw the B's and A's, more B's than A's, in Charlie's report card.

"Indeed," she said as she stared at the report card a few moments longer before she heaved a sigh and folded it closed. "Okay, off to face the music. Maybe I'll get REALLY lucky and Maddy and Liam will have had an off semester." Amber looked at her for a moment. "You're right, who am I kidding?" she asked as she threw her hands in the air before she stalked off towards the bus stop.

* * *

"Hey Sweets!" Lorelai said cheerfully as Charlie wandered into the Dragonfly Inn.

"Hey," she said as she flopped down on the couch across from the reception desk.

"Know what day it is?" she asked excitedly as she came to sit on the couch too.

"The day my life ends?" she asked.

"Report card day!" she said excitedly. "Wait, what do you mean the day your life ends?" Charlie sighed and waived the report card in her face.

"Give me a 5 minute head start," she said as she got up and headed into the kitchen. "Chocolate?"

"Over there kitten," Sookie replied. "What's wrong."

"Wait for it," she muttered as she pulled the mixing bowl of chocolate chunks into her arms.

"Charlotte Abigail!" Lorelai called out as she stormed into the kitchen. "What's this?" Charlie just looked at her, but didn't say anything. "This is barely a 3.3 average."

"I know," she said. Charlie and Sookie watched as Lorelai's face hit about 18 different shades of red. "I know," she said again, a few more pieces of chocolate going into her mouth. "I'm going home," she said as she slid off her stool. Lorelai shook her head as she watched Charlie leave the Inn.

"That kid. . . " she said, still shaking her head.

"It's not like she tanked the year," Sookie said quietly.

"She can do so much better Sookie. She's just as smart as Rory, maybe even more so! Why does she do this?"

"Didn't you once tell me that you were smart, but not the greatest student?" Sookie asked. "Maybe school just isn't her thing."

"Then why did she want to go to Chilton so bad? We offered it to her, we didn't make her go! We were happy for her to stay here! We also could have saved $20,000."

"She doesn't want to disappoint you and Luke," Sookie replied with a smile as she handed Lorelai a cup of coffee as she plucked the report card from Lorelai's hands to take a look at it.

* * *

Charlie hesitated as she got closer to town. As she loosened her tie, she turned and headed towards the diner.

"My grades are ugly, like a rabid spider monkey ugly. Mom has already freaked out slash is still freaking out at the Dragonfly," she announced after walking into the diner. Luke and all the patrons turned to look at her. "So, there, it's out in the open. I'll leave you all to start comparing me to Rory and preparing what you're going to yell at me when you get home," she finished as she turned on her heel and headed home for real this time, her long hair flying out behind her as she squeezed between Liam and Maddy who were heading in to the diner. Luke blinked at the door for a moment before he turned to the diner.

"So everyone's done?" he bellowed when he saw everyone still staring at him and the door. The diner quickly got busy again and Liam and Maddy wandered over to the counter.

* * *

Charlie stomped around the house for a while, enjoying the quiet and the echoing of the books and what not that she was throwing around.

"Where'd you stop?" Lorelai called calmly from the living room. Charlie jumped a little, she hadn't seen her mother on the couch.

"The diner," she said calmly, trying to keep the fatigue out of her voice. She nodded as she crossed her legs and sat back against the couch.

"Want to tell me how exactly this happened?"

"No," Charlie replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Ah, let me try that again, this new fangled English and all . . . Want to tell me what happened?"

"It was boring," she finally said. "I got bored and lost interest and just stopped caring for a bit," she said, looking everywhere but at her mother. "A bit too long, apparently."

"You got bored?" Lorelai exclaimed. "We sent you to Chilton to keep you from getting bored!"

"I know!" she exclaimed. "You think I don't know that? I've been sitting on this for three days, THREE DAYS!" she yelled at her mother.

"Charlie," Lorelai started.

"No, no, I don't want to hear it!" she said. "I fucked up!" she exclaimed and this threw Lorelai for a moment. She had always assumed that Charlie' swore, she had just never heard it before. "I fucked up and now you're going to yell at me, and then Liam and Maddy are going to show you and Luke their perfect report cards before they rub it in and you and Luke start yelling again so why don't we just wait until everyone's here so we can just get this over with in one shot, sound good? Great!" she said as she turned on her heel and headed into her room, slamming the door behind her. By the time Lorelai realised what had just happened, Rancid was already blaring from behind the door.

* * *

Charlie sulked through dinner and Lorelai stayed pretty quiet as she noticed that everything was playing out exactly as Charlie had predicted. Liam and Maddy were bringing up their grades every chance that got at dinner and that muscle in Luke's jaw twitched ever time they did.

"Enough about school," Lorelai finally said. "There has got to be something other than school to talk about today," she said. Maddy and Liam stopped and looked from her to Charlie to Luke before they looked at each other.

"Okay," Maddy said after a moment and launched into a conversation about what she was planning to do that weekend.

"I'm done," Charlie said quietly as she got up from the table and left the room. Lorelai and Luke both knew this wasn't a normal Charlie funk when they realised her plate was still mostly full.

* * *

"So," Lorelai said later that evening.

"I think I should just go back to Stars Hollow High," Charlie said quickly. "I mean, at least when I screw up there, it doesn't cost $5,000 a year."

"Kid, if you're this bored at Chilton, you will shrivel up and die at Stars Hollow High School. Maybe. . . Maybe you need to rethink you're course choices," she said. "You're at midterm, first semester of Grade 11, there's time to think about this."

"What about a different school?" she asked again.

"But I thought. . . "

"One where I can get away from Rory." And it all dawned on Lorelai.

"They still remember her there, huh?"

"Gilmore-Danes. . . You look an awful lot like one Rory Gilmore. Are you related?' and it just gets worse from there. They all want to know why I'm not going out for the Franklin and isn't it a shame I don't have her work ethic? At least I have better social skills than she did, my transcripts won't lack for extra curriculars. . . I know it's stupid to let stuff like this get to me, I mean, I'm not 5 years old anymore. I can't just start throwing a tantrum over everything that doesn't go my way."

"Honey, word is going to get around no matter where you go. Rory was the Great White Hope for the Gilmore clan, she was their second chance to do right and she left a wake 8 million miles wide. Your grandparents talk about her to anyone and everyone who will listen and the social circles are all connected. No matter where you go people are going to know you're Rory Gilmore's kid sister."

"Great, thanks. You are just really . . .super at this make me feel better game," she grumbled as she tossed her pencil across the room.

"If it makes you feel any better, you and me, we're in this together," Lorelai said as she sat down on the bed. "I was the Great White Hope at one point in time," she pointed out. "Then Rory came along and I became the Great White Disappointment. If you think being compared to your sister is bad, try being compared to your daughter. You are my Great White Hope Kid." Charlie turned in her chair slightly to look at her mother. "You and me, we'll never be perfect. We're smart, but we get bored easily."

"We like shiny things too much."

"We do. And chocolate and boots. We don't apply ourselves until we really have to, but when we have to, we blow everybody away. That's why I don't worry about you," she said as she held an arm out. Charlie reluctantly got up and came to sit beside Lorelai. "I know that you will dig yourself into a hole and you realise that, you'll work to get out of it and never dig the same hole again. I worry about Maddy and Liam, that's who I worry about."

"But, they're like Rory," she said, considering this for a moment.

"Exactly. When Rory went bad, she went bad. I mean, yacht stealing, dropping out, living with my parents. . . It was rough and it happened all at once. At least with you, you space out the pit falls. But those two. . . I'm afraid that they're not going to learn how to pick themselves up when things don't go according to plan."

"So, you're disappointed, not mad?"

"Which will make you feel worse?"

"Disappointed."

"Then I'm disappointed, both me and Luke are disappointed."

"I'll do better this year, there's still lots of time to pull my grades up to a respectable 3.8, 3.9 if I really push."

"Charlie, don't do this because you think me and Luke want you to. You need to do this because you want to," Lorelai warned as she stood up from the bed.

"I know," she said as she watched her mother head towards the door. "Tell pop that too."

"I will," she said as she slipped out. She closed the door and heaved a sigh. Charlie was a bit too much like her mother, and that always worried Lorelai more than she liked to admit.

* * *


	13. Chapter 13

**Charlie's 3**

* * *

Charlie perked up when she heard the phone ring. As the 3 year old slid off the couch to answer the phone, Lorelai stopped her in her tracks.

"Ah ah, phone rule?" Charlie paused and thought for a moment.

"Gamma's been callin'. Wait 'n see?" she rattle off.

"Good girl," she said as they waited.

"Hey, it's us, Gilmore girl 1 and 3 as number 2 is off at Yale," said Lorelai's voice on the answering machine.

"Dirty!" Came Charlie's voice.

"Leave one, we'll call you back!" Lorelai finished. Lorelai snickered, at the message and Charlie's first exclamation of Dirty as her mother came on to berate them.

"I don't get the joke, but, I think it's safe to say that Charlie shouldn't either, really Lorelai! I'm just calling to let you know that I'll be in town at some point today, looking at antiques and I'll be stopping by your house at 3:30 to pick up those samples for the DAR function you promised me. You had better be there," Emily finished as she hung up.

"So, run for the border now, or later?" Lorelai asked. Charlie giggled a little.

"I like it when Gramma comes over," she said. 

"And I love that you do, but still," Lorelai said as she glanced at the clock. "Okay, we have an hour. Go clean your room, I'll hide everything your grandmother shouldn't see in here and then we'll head to Luke's." Charlie's eyes lit up as she raced towards her room. Lorelai knew that 'cleaning' in Charlie's world meant shoving as much as she could under the bed and into her toy box and, honestly? she was ok with that. She quickly rounded the living room, gathering up magazines and books as well as the few personal items Luke had left around the living room so her mother wouldn't ask why there was a man's shirt on the back of her couch.

"Can't reach!"

"Can't reach what?" Lorelai called back.

"The shelf!" Charlie called again and Lorelai snickered as she heard the tell tale thumping of Charlie trying to jump high enough to reach the shelf.

"Up," Lorelai said as she lifted Charlie up and helped her stack the books back up. They quickly stashed all other incriminating Luke evidence before they slipped sandals on and headed towards town.

"Hey," Luke called with a smile as h saw the two of them walk into the nearly empty diner.

"Hey," Lorelai replied as she sauntered over to the counter. "My mother is coming over."

"Why?" he asked as he poured her a cup of coffee and set a glass of apple juice out for Charlie.

"To pick up the linen samples I promised her. You're starting to acquire quite the little collection at my place," she told him as she helped Charlie up onto a stool at the counter.

"I can bring it back the next time I'm over."

"It's fine," she said with a shrug. "I don't mind. I'm just not ready to let them in on it yet," she said. He nodded and understood. The three of them sat around for a while longer, talking about nothing until Lorelai noticed the time. She and Charlie rushed home, just in time to sneak in the back door.

"Did you know there's a boat in your garage?" Emily asked Charlie as soon as the little girl had the door open.

"Yup," she said. "It's Luke's," she said casually before her eyes went wide and she slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Luke. The diner owner?" Emily asked again. Charlie looked up at her for a moment.

"MOM!" she called out as she backed away. "Gramma's here!"

"Hi mom," Lorelai said pleasantly enough as she invited Emily in.

"What is that diner owner's boat doing in your garage?" she asked Lorelai. Lorelai sent a look in Charlie's direction and she simply sunk a little further down into the couch.

"Because. He used to pay some one to store it for him, but they moved and the new owners of the house wouldn't take it. So I did. After the band moved out, it just looked so lonely and empty," she said quickly, handing over the linen samples. "Let me know which ones you like best." Emily tried to pry more information out of Lorelai for a few moments before she finally gave up and headed back to her car. Lorelai sighed and closed the door. "Charlie. . ."

"It just slipped out!" she said quickly. "I didn't mean to!"

"You're just lucky I'm such a skilled liar," she told the 3 year old as she pulled her into her arms and tickled her before setting her free again.

* * *

**Charlie's about 2.5**

* * *

"Please Luke. Please, please, please, please Luke," Lorelai begged him.

"Coffee'll be ready in a bit. "What exactly are you doing here at 5:30 in the morning?"

"I'm not here about coffee," she said as she took a seat at the counter. He paused as he filled the coffee filter

"Really?" was all he got out as he went back to what he was doing.

"Look, I know you said you were done baby sitting, but I. . "

"No," he said again as he tossed a muffin in the toaster oven. "She is too big to run around here any more. She's also decided that she doesn't like the word no again."

"Luke, please. Please, please, please, please," she begged again as Charlie stirred slightly on her shoulder but didn't wake. "I can't take her to the inn any more and I can't. . . "

"You can't what?" he asked after she had stopped talking.

"I can't afford a sitter all day 6 days a week," she told him. "The only people left at the Inn are me, Michel, Sookie a maid and a bell boy. I just. . . please Luke," she said again. Luke sighed as he pulled the muffin from the toaster oven and set it in front of her. He watched as she played with it.

"Fine," he said with a sigh.

"Really?" she asked, part of her not really expecting him to give in at all.

"Yeah."

"What about Nicole?"

"What about Nicole?" he asked as he pressed his hands flat on the counter in front of her.

"Well, will it matter to her? I mean, I don't want to cause any trouble."

"Why would it matter to her? You're my friend, I'm doing you a favour. That's all she needs to know." She looked at him long and hard for a moment before she relented.

"Fine. Time?"

"5:45," he said.

"Ah, gotta run," she said as she stood up and she passed Charlie over the counter to Luke. "I'll be back around lunch. Call if you need anything?"

"We'll be fine," he said as he watched her leave. He stood behind the counter, toddler on his shoulder for another moment before he headed upstairs. He laid her on his bed for a moment as he wrestled the play pen out from where he had folded it and shoved it after the last time she had left Charlie here. He quickly opened it up and laid Charlie in it, tossing a blanket over her as he plugged in the baby monitor and clipped the other to his belt. As he headed downstairs, he realised that Lorelai hadn't left Charlie's bag, but by the time he got to the counter again, he found it sitting where her muffin had been. He shook his head as he brought that upstairs before returning to the job of opening the diner for the day.

* * *

True to her word, Lorelai had shown up at lunch, though she hadn't been able to stay long. She did, however, stay long enough to supervise lunch and a diaper change before she left Charlie in Luke's care again. Luke had brought Charlie back upstairs for a nap not long after.

"Hey stranger."

"Hey Nicole," he said with a smile when he saw her come up to the counter.

"How's you're day so far?"

"No complaints," he said with a shrug. "Can I get you anything?"

"No, I think I did leave something in your apartment though," she said. "Can I?"

"Sure," he said with a nod as he moved on to another customer. Nicole quickly dashed up the stairs but came to a quick stop when she saw the new piece of furniture that was taking up most of Luke's living room. She headed into the apartment and over to the playpen, peaking in to see who exactly was in there. She frowned when she recognised Lorelai Gilmore's little girl. She stared for a moment longer before she glanced around the apartment. Her frown deepened when she noticed the smattering of baby toys strewn around the apartment. She quickly found the file she had been looking for and headed back downstairs.

"What's going on Luke?" she asked as she pulled him aside.

"What do you mean?"

"Lorelai Gilmore's kid is asleep up stairs," she said, trying to keep her voice down.  
"Lorelai needed a sitter, things are a little tight for her since the inn caught fire. I offered to help her out today," he said, not understanding why this was such a big deal.

"And you just happened to have a play pen tucked away up there?" Luke's mind raced for a moment as he tried to come up with an answer.

"You know this isn't the first time I've done this," he said. He decided the truth would get him into the least amount of trouble. Nicole looked at him long and hard for a moment.

"I should go, I'm running late," she said coolly.

"Oh, yeah. Sure," he said, not really sure why she was mad about this. "I'll call you tonight?"

"Whatever," she said as she left the diner in a hurry. He frowned a little as he watched her go, but quickly turned back to the crank in the hat who was calling for more coffee.

* * *

All the patrons in the diner sat quietly, listening to the fight that was raging above them in Luke's apartment. No one so much as chewed their food in case they missed some valuable piece of gossip.

"What the hell should I think, Luke? She's in here all the time, asking you to go to her house and fix something, or baby sit her kid or whatever the hell else and you do it! You do it without questioning!" Nicole yelled.

"She's my friend and she's had a run of bad luck! She doesn't have a lot of other options!" he shot back.

"Well you do! You can, you should, be saying no to her!"

"I'm not going to cut Lorelai out of my life because you tell me to!"

"I'm your wife!" she fired back at him. She had quickly learned that pulling out the Wife Card tended to help her side of the argument.

"Then you have nothing to worry about!" he fired back as he turned on his heel and slammed out of the apartment. The diner quickly jumped back to life as Luke stomped down the stairs, grabbed his order pad and started taking orders.

"Luke!" Nicole called as she came down the stairs.

"I'm workin'," he fired back, focusing on Miss Patty instead of her.

"And we weren't done."

"What more did you have to say? Did you want to tell me that I should stop helping little old ladies across the street, too?" She fumed for a moment before she convinced him to step outside. As soon as they were across the street at the little park by Patty's dance studio, the diner fell silent again as they all turned to watch the continuing fight.

"I don't want her leaving her kid here any more," Nicole finally told him out right.

"I'm not gonna stop seeing Charlie," he told her flat out.

"If you care at all about this marriage, you will stop seeing them," Nicole said. "Lorelai and her kid, you will stop seeing them." Luke looked at her long and hard for a moment.

"I could also finish signing those papers," he told her.

"Fine, whatever. Do what ever the hell you want Luke!" Nicole said, throwing her hands in the air before stalking off to her car.

* * *

A few days later, Lorelai came home to find a message from Luke on her answering machine.

"You'll recognise the building by the big police sign on the front because, oh hell, I'm in jail," he said before asking her to bring bail money as well.

* * *

**Charlie's 2**

* * *

Lorelai tucked her legs a little tighter under her, her eyes still glued to the TV screen where the final moments of Love Story. She cast a quick glance over at Charlie who was starting to doze off on the quilt that served as her play area before returning to attention to the screen. She didn't bother looking at Luke, she knew he was Stone Cold Luke, not affected at all by what was going on in the movie on the TV screen. As the movie drew to a close, she sniffled, some what louder than she had meant to. Luke cast a side long glance at her and she turned away slightly so he wouldn't see the tears running down her face.

"Finally!" Luke called out, gesturing towards the TV when the credits finally started to roll.

"Really?" she turned to ask him, still more than a little teary. They looked at each other for a moment. Luke fumbled for something to say. The sight of any woman crying, especially Lorelai Gilmore made him panic. It didn't matter why they were crying, it just threw him for a loop. Fortunately, Charlie picked that moment to make a bee line for Luke.

"Sleepy," she announced to him as he scooped her up and she made herself comfortable on his shoulder.

"I'll be right back," Lorelai said quickly as she stood from the couch and headed up stairs. Luke assumed, and hoped, that she was just dashing up the stairs to grab pyjamas for Charlie. Fortunately, he was right.

* * *

"He looks comfortable," Rory commented as she came home from her disastrous date, just in time to help her mother tuck Luke in on the couch.

"Yeah, he does," she said as she cocked her head to the side and studied Luke, all hunkered down under the girly pink blanket, blue cap still on his head as he snored lightly. "Well, tell me how it went," she said as she pulled herself away from the man on the couch and led Rory towards the kitchen.

* * *

**Charlie's 6**

* * *

"Let's get one thing straight. . . I'm not," a character on TV blared back at Charlie as she chuckled away at the random sit com she had stumbled into.

"Are you coming?" Rory called from the top of the stairs.

"Yeah!" the 6 year old said as she jumped up from the couch and raced upstairs, the pink ribbon that Rory had braided into her hair that morning working loose and beginning to fly away behind her. She jumped onto her mother's bed and giggled as she watched Rory help their mother get ready. She quickly flopped onto her stomach and rested her chin on the foot board as she watched.

"These ones," Rory said as she dropped earrings into Lorelai's open palm. Charlie cocked her head to the side as she watched her mother skilfully slip the small diamond studs into her ears, sweeping her long, dark hair out of the way as she did.

"I think I've changed my mind," Lorelai said after a moment.

"You're kidding, right?" Rory asked.

"Yeah!" Charlie piped in. "We've been waiting and waiting for this!"

"And waiting and waiting!" Rory threw in with a smile. Lorelai smiled as she turned slightly to look at her girls.

"And waiting and waiting some more!" Charlie giggled as she finally slid off the bed and rushed over to throw her arms around Lorelai. "You look beautiful," the little girl whispered with a smile.

"Thank you," she said with a smile as she held an arm out for Rory to join them. "You're sure about this?" Lorelai asked.

"Yup!" Charlie said immediately.

"You guys just weren't ready last time," Rory said. "You're ready now, there's nothing in your way." The Gilmore Girls stood close for a moment longer before they heard a truck pull up to the house.

"LUKE!" Charlie squealed as she jumped away from her mother and Rory and ran, full tilt, towards the front door. Rory and Lorelai couldn't help but laugh.

"She really missed him."

"She never said anything to me," Lorelai commented as she looked at Rory.

"She said it made you sad, so, she just told me." The paused and smiled for a moment as they heard Charlie and Luke laughing downstairs. Lorelai gave Rory one last hug before she grabbed her bag and warp and headed down stairs.

"You guys are gonna get it right this time, right?" Charlie asked, still tightly held in Luke's arms. "Cause we don't do disappointment well."

"Really?" he asked with a smile.

"Yep. Lot's of cryin' and lot's of bad choices."

"We'll try really hard this time," he said as he gave her one last squeeze before putting her on the ground and sending her to Rory who was just now coming down the stairs. "Ready?"

"More than," Lorelai replied with a smile as she called out a few last minute instructions to Rory before her and Luke left the house.

* * *

"Rory. Rory wake up," Charlie said quickly as she shook Rory awake the next morning.

"What?" she asked sleepily as she straightened the necklace that was still around her neck, three small sapphires from Logan.

"Mom's not back yet," Charlie said.

"Well, we should go to Luke's and look for her," she said with a smile as she kicked Charlie into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.

"Why would she still be with Luke?"

"I love that you have to ask that," she said with a smile as she pulled herself out of bed to make some pop tarts.

* * *

**Charlie's 4**

* * *

"Charlie, go answer the door!" Rory called from her room. Rory had taken Charlie back to Yale with her after Friday night dinner so her mother and Luke could have a night alone. She listened as the 4 year old scampered to the door and smiled. She was expecting Paris to return with take out and she figured her arms would be full.

"Didcha get it all?" Charlie called as she swung the door open. "You're not Paris," she remarked as she stared up at the blonde haired boy who stood in the door way.

"And you're not Rory," he commented as he looked down at the little girl in front of him. "Aren't you a little young to be going to Yale?" Charlie giggled.

"I'm Charlie," she announced, still making no moves to let him into the dorm room. "Who are you?"

"I'm Logan," he replied. He couldn't help but smile as Charlie's face lit up in recognition and she giggled.  
"RORY! YOUR BOYFRIEND'S HERE!" she finally yelled out in a sing-song voice, loud enough for the whole floor to hear.

"And he's captured your Charlie," Logan called out to her as he finally scooped Charlie up and let himself into the room, closing the door behind him with his foot. Charlie laughed away as Logan turned her upside down before dumping her on the couch and heading to Rory's room. "Hey," he said as he peaked in.

"Hey," she said with a smile as she looked up from her books. "I'm just about done. We're waiting on Paris, she's bringing dinner."

"What's with the new room mate?" he asked as he sat down on her bed.

"That's Charlie, my sister. I've told you about her," she said as she put down her pen and turned away from her desk to look at him.

"Right, right. She's not what I expected," she commented.

"And what were you expecting?"

"Hey, every other little kid I've ever met has been a screamer and a brat. I was half expecting her to be exactly the same."

"Silly boy," Rory said. "Go sit with her for a while. Watch some TV, she's easy to get along with."

"Rory. . . "

"I'm gonna be a few more minutes. Just go sit, she'll do the rest. GO!" she urged with a smile as she turned back to her books. Logan looked at his girl friend for another long moment before he pulled himself up off the bed and headed back out to the common room.

* * *

"So?" Rory asked as she helped Charlie get all the blankets and pillows in place in the common room. She and Charlie were going to have a grand sleep over and fall asleep while watching movies and eating junk food. Paris had bowed out, deciding to spend the night with Doyle instead.

"So what?" Charlie asked as she tossed the last few pillows into place before diving into the blankets.

"So what did you think of Logan?"

"He was ok," she said as she grabbed the box of Red Vines.

"Just ok? You two seemed to be making enough noise for him to at least get a 'he's good'," she commented as she settled herself down and grabbed a box of Milk Duds.

"I'm keeping my options open," she returned. "I only met him today."  
"Right," Rory said with a snicker as she turned on the movie. "You are one funny kid, you know that?"

"I know," Charlie said confidently as she snuggled down, box of Red Vines in one hand and her drink cup, with lid, in the other. Rory glanced over at her kid sister and snickered to herself before she too turned her attention to the movie.

* * *


	14. Chapter 14

**Charlie's 7**

* * *

"Is the tooth fairy real?" Charlie asked, out of the blue, one morning.

"Of course she is," Lorelai replied to the 7 year old as she cleaned Maddy up before setting her loose. "Why do you ask?"

"She didn't come last night."

"You didn't lose a tooth last night," she said confidently as she put the almost 2 year old on the ground.

"I did," Charlie replied. "I just didn't tell you or Luke." Charlie waited for a reply.

"Well," Lorelai said, stalling for time. "Maybe she just ran out of time. Maybe she just figured that since you're such an understanding kid, she'd visit you first thing tonight." Lorelai forced a smile as Charlie eyed her hard.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am. Would I lie about something like this?"

"Yes," Charlie answered without hesitation.

"Well, you're wrong."

"I could ask Luke."

"Well, go ahead," she said. "He's in the garage."

"Ok, I will," she said as she turned and headed for the front door, to put her shoes on. Lorelai waited until she was out of site before she dialled Luke's cell phone.

"What?" he said as he answered it.

"Charlie is coming out there to ask you about the tooth fairy and you better lie through your teeth to her."

"What?"

"The tooth fairy, Luke!" She hissed, keeping track of Charlie through the kitchen window. "You will tell her that she exists and that she is coming tonight. Understand?"

"Yeah, sure," he said as he abruptly cut the line.

"Your father, quite the piece of work," she told Maddy as she wandered into the living room.

"Go out?" Maddy asked hopefully, pointing towards the door.

"Go find your shoes," she said with a sigh. Maddy giggled as she ran off to do just that.

* * *

"So, you're sure?" Charlie asked Luke as she sat on the lone chair in the garage.

"I'm sure," he said from the other side of a large book shelf he was building for her. Not only had Charlie gotten Rory's looks, she had also gotten her appetite for books.

"So, if I leave it out tonight, she'll come for sure?"

"She will come for sure," he said again as he finished sanding it. "What colour do you want?" he asked her.

"Blue," Charlie said quickly. "With ducks."

"Ducks?" he asked, finally peaking out around it at him.

"I saw the flowers you painted for Rory. They were good and ducks aren't that much different," she said as she slid off of the chair. "Thanks Luke," she said brightly as she hugged him before dashing out of the garage and into the yard to play.

"Ducks," he muttered as he headed to the back of the garage to see if he had any blue paint left.

* * *

"You're all set?" Lorelai asked as she tucked Charlie in.

"Yep," she replied.

"Everything is in place?"

"Yes," she replied again. "What are you looking for?"

"Oh, nothing," Lorelai said with a smile. Truth be told, she was looking for the lost tooth. "Night Sweets."

"Night momma," she said as she rolled over while Lorelai turned out the light. Charlie counted to ten after the door closed before she jumped up and turned the light on. She scurried to her desk and moved the tooth from under the desk lamp to the 5th shelf of her yellow book case. Satisfied, she scampered back to bed.

* * *

'Damn it! Where the hell is it?' Lorelai cursed in her head as she scoured Charlie's usual display places with a dim flashlight. "You come look," she eventually told Luke, holding out the flashlight to him. He looked up at her from the couch and blinked a few times.

"Why?"

"Because I can't find it and I have no want and or need to tell my 7 year old that there is no Santa Clause."

"This is about the Tooth Fairy," he replied.

"She's a smart kid Luke. As soon as she puts together that there's no Tooth Fairy, she'll put together the rest." Luke sighed and rolled his eyes before he put his beer back on the coffee table before he stood up and took the flash light from his wife.

"The work," he said to her.

"The reward," she replied before she kissed him and sent him on his way. He rolled his eyes and shook his head as he headed towards Charlie's room.

* * *

"Well?" she asked when he came back out.

"Just leave her a dollar and a note about how her bag was full," he said as he put the flashlight on the coffee table and fell back onto the sofa.

"Seriously?"

"Well, it's not that far fetched from 'she probably ran out of time'," he said, quoting her own lie back to her.

"Big help you are," she told him as she headed off to find a piece of paper. "She knows my hand writing," Lorelai said.

"Type it up. Or use that vibrating pen she has." With a sigh, Lorelai sat down with the vibrating pen and scribbled out a note in pink, tucked $2 into it and quietly snuck in to stick it on Charlie's desk.

* * *

"Hey Sweets, She come last night?"

"No," Charlie said, dejectedly, as she sat down at the kitchen table. "But you did," she said as she looked up at Lorelai.

"What do you mean?" Charlie pushed the note and the $2 across the table. Lorelai sighed as she looked at it. "There is no Tooth Fairy, is there?" she asked again.

"No," Lorelai admitted with a sigh. She watched as Charlie processed this for a moment.

"There's no Santa either, is there? Or the Easter Bunny or anything else, is there?"

"Do you want there to be?"

"Yes."

"Then there is. That's all you need to worry about." Charlie watched her mother for a moment longer, but didn't press the subject.

"Tooth Fairy wasn't all that important anyways," Charlie said. "Now, if there was no Santa or Easter Bunny, that would be a different story."

"I agree! I mean, who would help feed our rabid need of chocolate, junk food and consumer goods? Certainly not Luke."

"No way! He STILL cringes when ever I make him take me to the mall," Charlie threw in with a smile. Lorelai laughed as she finished off her coffee.

"What do you say we wake up Maddy and head to the diner for breakfast?"

"Okay," Charlie said with a smile as she slid out of her chair. Lorelai watched as she hesitated and came back over to the table, plucked the two dollar bills from the note and headed back to her room.

"Oh, you are SO my kid," she muttered with a smile as she headed upstairs.

* * *

**Charlie's about 5. Maybe 6.**

* * *

She didn't feel like backing out this time.

That was the most overwhelming thought she had as she sat through the bacheloret party Sookie and Rory had planned for her. In fact, when the night began to play out like the party before she married Max, she found herself wishing that she hadn't handed her cell phone to Rory for safe keeping so that she could phone Luke, just to tell him that she loved him.

"Having fun?" Rory asked her with a large smile on her face.

"I am," Lorelai called back over the music as she finished another Long Island Ice Tea. Rory gave her a thumbs up before she grabbed her hands and pulled her out onto the dance floor. She threw her head back and laughed as she and her daughter and he best friends danced the night away.

* * *

"So," Luke said as he served Lorelai a cup of coffee the next morning. "Good party?"

"Shhhhhhhhhhh," she said to him as she brought the cup up to her lips. By the time she set it back down on the counter, Luke had left a glass of water, a glass of orange juice and a couple of aspirin.

"You're so good to me," she said quietly as she took the pills and downed the glass of water before moving onto the orange juice.

"I try," he said with a smile. "Pancakes?"

"You bet," she said as she glanced over at Rory who was finishing off her orange juice. "He's too good for us."  
"Maybe you should tell him that, give him time to back out," Rory said.

"MMmmm. . . I don't think so. If he hasn't figured it out by now, I don't think I should break it to him." Rory chuckled a little as they fell into a quiet conversation while waiting for their hang over food.

* * *

"Funny," she said to Sookie when she heard the song Ready To Run playing on the CD player as she, Rory and Charlie arrived for hair and make up. Sookie giggled as well before she switched the CD to a different one.

"Ready?" she asked the girls.

"Yeah!" Charlie said, bouncing up and down. Rory replied with a slightly more dignified. "YES!"

* * *

"You're not dancing," Emily pointed out as she came to sit beside Lorelai during the reception.

"I was replaced," she said, nodding towards where Luke was swaying, Charlie in his arms.

"She really likes him," Emily remarked.

"She really loves him," Lorelai corrected.

"So do you," Emily said as she looked over at Lorelai.

"I do," she said as her father came over and captured her mother for a dance. She watched her father guide her mother across the floor for a moment before she turned her attention back to her new husband and youngest daughter. She watched Charlie throw her head back and laugh at something he had said to her and she couldn't help but smile as well. She watched as he pulled her close for a moment before depositing her on the ground.

"Luke says it's your turn," she said breathlessly when she got to her mother's side.

"Keep my seat warm?"

"Unhuh," Charlie said as she sat herself on the seat Lorelai had just vacated.

"Hi," she said when she was standing in front of him.

"Hey," he said as he offered her a hand and she took it. He gently swept her onto the make shift dance floor, his free hand resting at the base of her spine as he guided her in lazy circles around the floor. She weaved her fingers through his as she looped her free arm over his shoulder and held him close and as they relaxed into each other, she finally got it. She understood what her mother hand meant when she said she just felt safe with Richard. She just felt safe with Luke. He didn't have to say or really do anything, she just knew that he'd do anything in his power to keep her, Charlie and Rory safe and happy.

"I love you," she told him, a slightly quiver to her voice as she came to realise just how much she loved him.

"Me too," he whispered to her as he pulled her a little tighter against him. A ghost of a smile kissed her lips as she laid her head against his shoulder and let him dance her around the floor

* * *

**Charlie's about 5.5years old.**

* * *

"Didcha find it?" Charlie yelled up the stairs. Chris had gone looking for the level a while ago and hadn't come back down yet. "Did you eat it?" she asked Paul Anka when her father didn't answer her.

Chris was aware, on some level, that Charlie was calling out to him, but he was too busy reading the letter he had found again. Lorelai had written some kind of letter for Luke, but as far as he was concerned, it was reading like a love letter.

"Dad?" Charlie asked as she poked her head into the room. "Didcha find it?" she asked again as she wandered over to the bed where he was sitting.

"Find what?" he asked her, finally looking up from the letter.

"The level. What's that?" she asked, trying to see what was on the paper he was reading.

"Nothing," he said as he handed her the level. "Let's go finish up," he told her as he ushered her out of the bed room, the legal pad still in his hand. He finally tossed the pad onto the couch and turned his full attention to Charlie when she asked him if she could work the level. "Of course kiddo," he said as he scooped her up and walked over to the new flat screen while she balanced the level on top.

* * *

The rest of the evening was fairly quiet for Chris and Charlie. With Lorelai still sitting with Davy and Martha and GiGi off at his mother's house, he ordered in pizza and he and Charlie spent a night in front of the flat screen watching bad movies.

"Can I sleep upstairs?" she asked with a yawn as she rubbed at her eye. "Just until momma gets back?" Chris looked at her and reluctantly agreed with a sigh. He quickly bundled her into the bed he shared with Lorelai, made sure she had a glass of water, her blankie and that a night light was on before he headed down stairs. The yellow legal pad caught his eye and he couldn't ignore it. He picked it up and found himself reading it again as he headed to the kitchen. He tossed the pad onto the table as he headed to the cupboard that he kept a bottle of scotch in. He pulled it out and filled a tumbler before he sat down at the table, staring at the legal pad as he drank, waiting for his wife to come home. After a while, he didn't know how long, he heard her come in, rambling away about the flat screen and Sookie. She came to an abrupt halt when she saw him and the legal pad at the kitchen table.

"I read your letter," he said calmly.

"Honey, it's not a letter. It's just a character reference that Luke asked me to write for his court case," she assured him as she slid into a chair beside him.

"Reads like a letter," he said, still staring at his almost empty glass of scotch.

"Oh, yeah?" she asked, not really sure where he was going with this.

"Almost like a love letter," he said, finally looking up at her. As she tried to explain to him that it wasn't a love letter, he jumped in, telling her not to bother. The pair quickly fell into the same, tired argument they had been having for weeks now. "Do you still talk to him?" he asked, starting to become angry, but trying not to wake the 5 and a half year old that was sleeping upstairs. "I mean, do you see him?"

"This is crazy," Lorelai said as she got up to follow him as he paced the kitchen.

"Hey, I got a right. I have a right to know," he told her as he finally stopped moving and turned to look at her.

Charlie stirred and rolled over when she heard the noise downstairs. She lay in bed for a moment, listening before she finally slid out from under the covers, her blankie in her hands, and headed for the stairs. She crept down to the landing, sitting on the stairs as she worried the blanket in her hands, listening to her parents fight. Paul Anka looked up from where he was sitting on a chair and quickly hopped off and climbed the stairs to sit with Charlie, his head in her lap. Charlie sighed a little as she rested a hand on Paul Anka's head while they listened.

"I think that it's because you're still in love with him," Chris said to Lorelai.

"No, I love you," she said, sounding like she was almost pleading with him. "I love you."

"You know what? I. . . I'm sorry, Lore. I just. . . I can't handle this," he said as he started to leave the kitchen again.

"Handle what?" Lorelai asked. They were having a fight, couples fought and then they worked through it.

"This," he said. "You and him. I just. . . I can't handle being your second choice. I thought I could, but I can't, alright?" he asked her. "I can't be your rebound. I'm sorry," he said as he quickly left the kitchen and headed for the door.

"Christopher?" Charlie heard her mother call. She sat on the step, Paul Anka's head in her lap and watched as her father walked out of the house without looking back. "Chris?" Lorelai called again after the door had closed. Charlie swallowed hard as she heard Chris' car start and pull away from the house. She listened as her mother rattled around the kitchen for a while before she began turning out the lights.

"Charlie," she said, more than a little surprised to see her on the stairs.

"Where's dad going?" she asked. Paul Anka looked over at Lorelai, but made no moves to leave his kid.

"To see GiGi," she lied quickly. "His mom called a while ago and he was just waiting for me to get home. I was late and he was worried, that's all." Charlie looked at Lorelai for a long moment.

"Where's dad going?" she asked again.

"I don't know," she finally admitted, her shoulder sagging as she slowly climbed a few steps before sitting beside Charlie and the dog.

"Is he coming back?" she asked, looking up at Lorelai. Luke had never stormed off after an argument. They had always argued until they were done, then froze each other out for a while before things went on as normal.

"Of course he is," Lorelai assured her as she pulled Charlie onto her lap. Paul Anka heaved a sigh before he curled up on the landing. "He just needs some time to think about things," she said as she rubbed Charlie's back. Charlie stayed quiet as she thought about this for a moment.

"Can I stay with you?" she asked quietly, playing with a button on her mother's coat.

"Let's go," she said, putting Charlie back on the ground before she stood up and led the group up to bed.

* * *

Charlie found herself, laying in bed, thinking about the evening as she listened to the shower in the other room. If her mother had expected her father to be back tonight, she would have tucked her into her own bed, Rory's bed. Instead, she was bundled under the covers of the bed in the master suite while her mother showered in the attached bathroom.

"You still up?" Lorelai asked as she came into the bedroom, now in pyjamas, her wet hair thrown into a loose braid.

"Just thinking," she said as she shuffled over to make room for her mom. "It's okay if he doesn't come back," Charlie said after a moment. Lorelai hesitated in turning off the light.

"Why would you say that?" she asked turning to look at Charlie. She shrugged.

"We did fine without him before, we can be fine again."

"He's coming back, Charlie," she said firmly. "Don't worry."

"Fine," she said after a moment before she rolled over, her back to Lorelai. Lorelai eventually turned out the light and slid down under the covers. She lay on her back, listening to Charlie fall asleep, and she began to hope and pray that she was right, that Chris would be back in the morning and everything would be fine.

* * *


	15. Chapter 15

OK, so last chapter, some one made a comment about how the time line of the chapter didn't make any sense. Now, I never thought that this would be a problem, but apparently it is, so, if said reviewer comes back, here's the deal: Everything that appears in this "story" is just a random scene. There is no rhyme or reason to the order in which they appear. This is the order in which they were written. None of these scenes will ever end up in Da Capo, though a variation of them might. Charlie is all different ages in them, some time Rory is with Marty, some times she's with Logan. Some times Lorelai and Luke held it together, other times she's with Chris. It's all just the luck of the draw.

As an added bonus to this chapter, I had a request for a nice Charlie/Chris scene and, low and behold, it has appeared. The last scene is a nice little bonding moment between Chris and Charlie. As always, don't for get to review here and on Da Capo!

**Charlie's about 5  
**

* * *

Charlie looked up from the picture she was colouring and over at her mother who was flipping lifelessly through the television channels.

"Momma?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah?" she asked, turning her attention away form the TV.

"Where's Luke?"

"At the diner."

"And he was there yesterday?"

"Of course he was," she replied. "Why do you ask?"

"We've been spending a lot of time at Al's," Charlie pointed out.

"Well, change is good," Lorelai said as she turned off the TV and got up off the couch. "Do you want a Pop Tart? I feel like Pop Tarts," she said as she headed to the kitchen.

"Momma?" Charlie asked as she jumped up and followed Lorelai to the kitchen. "Momma, can we go to Luke's?"

"You don't want Pop Tarts?" Lorelai asked as she continued unwrapping them and putting them in the toaster.

"I miss Luke," she said. Charlie watched as her mother stopped fumbling with the Pop Tarts.

"April's at the diner right now," Lorelai answered simply.

"So?"

"So. . . Luke asked us not to come by when April's there."

"Why?" she asked as she came to stand beside Lorelai. "Why can't we go to the diner?" Lorelai shrugged.

"He has his reasons. You want chocolate milk?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, chocolate's good," Charlie muttered as she climbed up onto a chair. "Momma?"

"What, Charlie?"

"I miss Luke," she said again. Lorelai hesitated in front of the fridge.

"So do I," Lorelai finally admitted. A heavy silence fell over the pair of them. "So, chocolate milk?" she asked again, trying to keep her voice light.

"Yeah, chocolate milk," Charlie said as she rested her head on her arms.

* * *

A few days later, Charlie found herself sitting on the steps outside of Miss Patty's, waiting for Lorelai to pick her up after a dance lesson.

"Honey, your mom just called, she said she's running a little late," Patty said as she bend down next to Charlie.

"I'm going to Luke's," she said firmly, her eyes still fixed on Luke and April in the diner.

"Don't forget to look both ways," Patty said. "I'll let your mom know."

"Good," Charlie said as she finally stood up and marched to the curb. She cast a quick glance up and down the street before she marched across and into the diner.

* * *

"Patty, where's Charlie?" Lorelai asked as she jogged up to the studio.

"She went to Luke's, honey," Patty said. Lorelai whipped her head around and caught sight of Charlie climbing up onto a stool at the counter.

"Oh no," she muttered as she quickly took off towards the diner.

* * *

"Charlie," Luke said, more than a little stunned to see the almost 5 year old climbing up onto a stool. "Does your mom know you're here?"

"She's late," Charlie said. She eyed Luke hard for a moment before she turned her head to look at April. "I'm Charlie," she announced.

"April," April replied with a smile.

"I was here first," Charlie said to her. A confused look came over April's face and before she could say anything, Charlie turned her attention back to Luke. "I was here first," she said to him and he was more than a little surprised at the dark look that was falling over Charlie's face. "We were here first, me and mom and Rory were here first."

"Charlie," he started.

"IT'S NOT FAIR!" she finally yelled at him. The diner fell silent to listen to what was going on. "You're supposed to be getting married! You're supposed to be getting married and you're supposed to be my dad and instead you spend all your time hiding here with April and we can't even come and see her!"

"Charlie, we are getting married," Luke said.

"You're never with us any more! You're always with her!" Charlie yelled, pointing at April.

"Charlie!" Lorelai said as she burst into the diner. "I'm sorry Luke," Lorelai said as she pulled Charlie off of the stool.

"We were here first!" Charlie yelled at him as Lorelai swung her up onto her hip and stormed out of the diner. "We were here first," Charlie cried into Lorelai's neck as the pair headed back to the Crap Shack.

"I know we were," Lorelai replied quietly as she held Charlie close and kept walking home.

* * *

April turned on her stool and watched Lorelai and Charlie head away from the diner.

"Luke?" April asked as she turned back around. She paused when she saw Luke. The last time she had seen him pale like this was when he had shown up at the science fair. "Luke?"

"Yeah?" he asked, finally looking away from the Gilmore Girls to April.

"What was all of that?" she asked.

"Uh, I don't really know," Luke said. "You still want that milkshake?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Sure," April said as she turned back to her book.

* * *

Lorelai held Charlie close as she cried herself out over Luke and the incident in the diner. She had to admit that there was something soothing in listening to her youngest crying about everything that she herself wanted to sit down and cry about.

"It's gonna be ok," Lorelai whispered as she smoothed her hair and rocked Charlie. "He just needs a little more time to figure April out, then things will get back to normal."

"It's not fair," Charlie got out between sobs.

"No," Lorelai admitted quietly. "It's not fair."

* * *

Luke approached the Crap Shack slowly. He stopped before climbing the stairs to the porch and noticed that most of the lights were off.

"Lorelai?" he asked as he crept into the house. He closed the door and just as he was about to call out to her again, he noticed her curled up in the corner of the couch. The pair stared at each other for a moment and Luke swallowed hard.

"We were here first," Lorelai said quietly.

"She's my kid," he said.

"And I don't debate that," Lorelai said. "But, as far as Charlie's concerned, she's your kid too and doesn't understand why you're ignoring her and why you won't introduce her to your other kid and, I must admit that I'm a little fuzzy on the why myself."

"Lorelai. . . "

"We're engaged, Luke," she told him calmly, "We're getting married, allegedly."

"We are," he insisted.

"Except you won't set a date, or stay over here anymore. You won't introduce me or Charlie to April, thought you did introduce Rory. Does April even know you're engaged, Luke?" She watched as he hesitated. "Does she know we're involved in any way at all? Other than the fact that I'm a good friend who rescued her birthday party?"

"She knows we're involved," he said, grasping at anything he could at this point.

"Well, I guess that's something," Lorelai said as she finally stood up from the couch. "She was devastated by the time I got her home. She cried for hours," Lorelai told him as she came to stand in front of him. "She misses you and I miss you and I don't know what to do about it."

"I'm right here."

"But we can't come see you because April is with you, or she might be, or it makes Ana mad, or it might make her mad . . ."

"I need time," he said. "I gave you time when you needed it, why won't you give it to me?"

"I have given it to you, Luke. I have given you months alone with April. I figured that after you had some time alone with her, you'd start to invite us in but, you aren't. You're building a separate life with her."

"No I'm not," he insisted.

"When was the last time you picked Charlie up from school? Let her hang around in the diner? What about the last time you came over here for a movie night?" The pair stared at each other for a long moment. "I can't keep doing this Luke," Lorelai finally said.

"Can't keep doing what?" Luke asked, starting to panic a little.

"I can't keep lying to my kid, Luke. I can't keep telling her that this is going to happen, that we just have to be patient if it isn't actually going to happen."

"It's going to happen!"

"When?" she demanded of him, trying to keep the tears at bay. "When are you going to let us in? You can't. . . you can't be there and then not be there for her!"

"Jesus Lorelai! I'm always there for Charlie!"

"I told you, I told you when we got back together after my parents vow renewal that I wasn't going to do this again if things weren't going to last. You promised me that things were going to be fine and they're not fine, Luke! My kid is crying herself to sleep because she misses you and I can't make it better!"  
"So, what? The only thing that's going to make it better is if we get married?" he demanded.

"Do you really think it would last if we got married now?" the pair stared at each other for a moment. They both knew the answer.

"I should go," he said, heading for the door.

"Don't come back," Lorelai finally said, just as he pulled the door open.

"What?" he asked as he turned to look at her.

"Don't come back," she said, trying to stay strong. "I'm done, we're done," she said.

"Lorelai, come on . . ."

"No," she said. "I'm out, Charlie's out, we're out. Go be April's dad."

"You don't really mean that, come on Lorelai," he said coming back into the house and over to her.

"No, Luke, I do mean it. Go be April's dad. This will be better for you, I mean, now you don't have to worry about hiding your other family from her, or worrying about what Ana will say and I can pick Charlie up and put her back together. It'll be just like when Rory was little and who doesn't love a touch of nostalgia?" she asked sarcastically as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"I'm not letting you do this," he said and she was more than a little pleased to see the pain and fear in his eyes.

"You didn't let me do anything, Luke," she said as she headed towards the kitchen. "This is all you. Lock the door on your way out," she said as she ducked into Charlie's room and closed the door. She leaned against it as she listened to hear him leave. A few moments later, she heard the front door open and close quietly. With a sigh, she dropped a kiss on Charlie's forehead before she slipped out of the room and headed upstairs, collapsing onto her bed, feeling utterly drained and empty.

* * *

**Charlie's 5**

* * *

Charlie shot up in bed, chest heaving and eyes wild as she searched her room for the monsters she was sure she had seen. As she caught her breath and the slick of sweat that ran the length of her spine started to cool, she began to relax when she realised that there were no monsters in her room, only GG in the other bed.

The 5 year old looked around blindly for a moment until she noticed the worn knit blanket, a baby gift from Mia, crumpled on the floor. She carefully leaned over and snatched it up, holding it close and allowing her thumb to find it's way into her mouth for a few moments. Once she was calm again, and satisfied that it had all really been a dream, she snuggled back down under the covers and closed her eyes again. A few seconds later, however, her eyes shot open again, echoes of her bad dream were still floating through her mind.  
With a sigh, she held her blankie tight and slid out of bed, quietly slipping out the door and into the kitchen. She didn't know how late it was so she stopped and listened for the soft sound of the TV that would indicate at least her father was still up, but when she saw no tell tale glow or sound, she slowly padded towards the living room and the stairs that would lead up to the master suite.

"Shhhhh Paul Anka," she whispered to the dog who was asleep on the landing as she stepped over him. The dog casually raised his head to watch his kid go by before he put his head back on his paws.

Charlie quickly headed to the end of the hallway and nudged the double doors open, poking her head into the room to take a look. She slipped into the room silently and quickly rushed to the bed. She sucked in a breath when she realised her father was sleeping closet to the door tonight. She also found it odd that he tended not to sleep with a t-shirt on, preferring to throw on a robe in the morning.

Luke had never worn a robe, always sweatpants and a t-shirt. Cut off sweatpants in the summer.

"Momma," she whispered as she quickly scampered to the other side of the bed. "Momma?" she asked again as she crouched down a little to be at eye level with Lorelai.

"What?" she asked, still mostly asleep.

"Scary monsters," was all Charlie said, worrying the blanket in her hands. This got Lorelai's attention and she slowly opened her eyes and looked at Charlie.

"Tell me," she said as she held the covers open and invited Charlie to crawl in. She quickly did, taking a moment to get comfortable before she tried to make sense of the jumble of images she had seen while her mother stroked her hair, trying to help her relax back to sleep.

When Luke had been new to spending the night and this happened, Charlie would wake up beside her mother and find Luke asleep on the couch. After they were engaged, he'd stay, but he'd always be very sure to just sleep on the very edge of his half of the bed.

Chris, on the other hand, didn't even stir. He just snored a little and rolled over, tossing an arm over the two of them as he pulled Lorelai closer to him in his sleep.

"Do you want me to look under your bed?" Lorelai offered when the story was done, dropping a kiss to the top of Charlie's head. Charlie paused to think about that for a moment.

Checking for monsters had been Luke's job.

"No."

"Want me to wake up dad?"

"Can I just stay here?" Charlie asked, rolling over so she faced her mother.  
"For a little longer," she said with a soft smile. "Go to sleep, I'll take you down once you're asleep, ok?"

"Yeah," she said as she snuggled in close against her mother, thumb finding it's way back into her mouth as she tried to figure out why Luke would wake up when she wandered into the room, but her father slept right through.

* * *

**Charlie's about 6, GG is about 4.5**

* * *

"Daddy loves me more."

Charlie turned her attention away from the TV to look at her little half sister who had just blurted out that little fact.

"Does not," Charlie fired back automatically.

"Does too," the 3 and a half year old shot back. "He was my all the time daddy, not your's." Charlie frowned for a moment as she thought about this.

"So what?" Charlie asked. "I had Rory as an all the time sister. Rory loves me more. And mom loves me more than you. So there." GG shrugged as she picked up the remote.

"Rory and Lorelai don't spoil you like daddy spoils me."

"No, they don't," Charlie said casually, "But I'm not a brat."

"I'm good now!" GG protested as she turned her attention away from the TV as the two of them thought back to the afternoon Lorelai had spent babysitting last year.

"I'm always good. Mostly," Charlie tacked on as an after thought.

"Grandma loves me more too."

"So? My grandma can't even remember your name," Charlie said with a smirk. This made GG falter because Francine asked about Lorelai, Rory and Charlie every week they went for dinner. "Grandma and Grandpa never ask about you."

"My grandma said she might get me a pony," GG said, besting Charlie again, or at least trying too.

"Momma owns TWO horses at the inn and she takes me riding with her when ever I want," Charlie said, knowing she had won this round. Sure, it was a bit of a lie because she couldn't go when ever she wanted, but Lorelai did take her riding with her when ever they had time an no guests wanted Dessie or Cletus.

"My pony's gonna be prettier," GG said, unfazed by Charlie. "It's going to be a girl and it's gonna be all black with just a white spot on it's forehead and I'm gonna feed her carrots right out of my hands."

"I have a dog," Charlie said, changing the subject away from horses.

"Paul Anka is Lorelai's dog. And he has a funny name." Charlie frowned a little as she realised she had lost that round. "My mommy's very pretty," GG said, out of the blue.

"So's my momma," Charlie countered. As far as she was concerned, she had never seen anyone as pretty as her mother.

"Mine's prettier," GG insisted. "And perfect. She's tall and smart and she doesn't have any scars at all." Charlie frowned. Her mother had her share of blemishes on her fair skin. 'Land Marks' Lorelai called them, each one telling a story about something stupid she had done, or some thing that had happened while helping Rory or Charlie do something.

"My mom's perfect too," Charlie insisted. She hated when people tried to say Lorelai wasn't.

"She's got scars."

"So? She got them doin' great things! Important things!" Charlie insisted.

"Like what?" GG asked, looking at Charlie for the first time since starting the conversation. Her step mother was still a bit of a mystery to her.

"Like. . . like the time she cut her foot on a broken plate because she had to get me out of the way. Or that time she burned her arm helping Luke serve plates at the diner when his uncle died. They all have a good story."

"I think they're ugly," GG answered, rather haughtily, as she turned back to the TV.

"They are not! You take that back!" Charlie shot back.

"No," GG said, proud to have finally gotten a rise out of Charlie. "I think the scars are ugly and they make you less pretty." Charlie fumed for a moment.

"My mom loves me more than your mom does," she blurted out. GG hesitated when she heard this. While they'd had this argument, or a similar one, many times, they had never gone in this particular direction before.

"Does not," GG answered, not sure what else to say.

"Does too," Charlie said, a full head of steam behind her after listening to GG all but call her mother ugly. "My mom loves me so much that she didn't even think of going to Paris without me. You're mom packed up and left you without saying goodbye."

"That's not true!" GG shot back as she turned face Charlie.

"She left a note with the nanny and dad had to call mom because he didn't know how to be a dad!"

"You're a liar!" GG shot back at Charlie. "My mommy loves me more than anything! She said so!"

"Then why did she leave you? Why is my momma your new mom?" Charlie asked, yelling just as loudly as GG.

"She's not my new mommy!" GG yelled. "My mommy lives in France and she loves me so much that she wants me to spend the whole summer in Paris with her!"

"Oh yeah? Well my mom loves me so much she gave up a chance to work in France so she could stay with me!" A grin turned up the corners of Charlie's mouth when she saw GG's face crumple a little more. She was finally going to win this argument for once. "My mom loves me more than your mom loves you," she said. What happened next was a blur for everyone in the house. In a matter of seconds, GG had launched herself across the couch at Charlie while Lorelai and Chris tore into the living room from the kitchen. By the time they got to the girls, GG was on top of Charlie, crying in frustration as she as she tried her best to hurt her and Charlie was yelling at her to get off as she balled her fist up.

"Hey!" Chris yelled as he grabbed for GG. He wasn't fast enough though, and Charlie managed to connect her right fist with GG's cheek and was scrambling up to try again as Lorelai finally grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back. Each parent looked at each other as they held a struggling prize fighter in their arms before Lorelai dragged Charlie upstairs so Chris could calm GG down.

"What was that?" Lorelai asked once Charlie had calmed down a little.

"She said dad loved her more," was all Charlie answered before Lorelai rolled her eyes.

"Charlie, we've been over and over this," she said with a sigh. Charlie heaved an angry sigh of her own and she crossed her arms and turned away from her mother.

"I wish they'd never moved in," Charlie muttered.

"What?" Lorelai asked. Charlie had thought it would be a great idea when they had talked to her about it.

"I wish they had never come to Stars Hollow," Charlie said, starting to get upset again. "If they had never come, he would still be here!"

"Who would still be here?" she asked, trying to calm Charlie down again.

"Luke!" she yelled. "You were supposed to be getting married! He was gonna live here and then, all of a sudden, you're not any more and he's mad and you're mad and Rory's mad and we don't get to go to the diner any more!" Charlie yelled. Lorelai's mouth fell into a tight line as she listened to her youngest start ranting. Charlie hadn't said much about her break up with Luke, so she had always assumed it was going to come. . . "Luke was supposed to live here and cook here and wear his sweat pants and t-shirts to bed and not be freaked out any more when I had a bad dream!"  
"Charlie," Lorelai said softly as she gathered the little girl into her arms. They pair sat quietly as collected their thoughts and calmed down again.

"She said they're ugly," Charlie finally muttered, running a finger over the scar on the back of her mother's hand, the one she knew was from a botched cooking attempt when Rory was little.

"She said what are ugly?" she asked quietly.

"Scars," Charlie finally spit out. "She said her momma was prettier because she didn't have any and you had lots."

"Oh well," Lorelai said with a shrug. "Life happens."

* * *

Charlie laid in bed that night, listening to her parents argue some more about the fight she and GG had gotten into. Sure, they had apologised and had even played a round of Candy Land before bed, but Chris was still mad about what she had done.

"They had a fight, Chris! A little more physical than I'd like, but they had a fight! They're both used to being only kids, or at least the youngest in the house, they're adjusting."

"She had no right to say the things that she did to GG!" he fired back.

"And GG had no right to tell Charlie that scars make people ugly," Lorelai shot back, watching in satisfaction as Chris stumbled in his argument.

"Your kid punched mine in the face because of something she said."

"My kid?" Lorelai asked him. "Was Charlie an immaculate conception that the media didn't get wind of?" she fired back at him. "She is OUR kid, our kid who you abandoned in favour of raising GG because I wouldn't run off and marry you!" The pair stopped yelling at each other for a moment.

"I'm grounding her tomorrow," he said.

"Because the week without TV or any desert from Sookie wasn't enough? She's 5 Chris, are you going to make her sit in her room all day?"

"How am I ever gonna be her father if you won't let me?" he asked her. "How am I gonna parent her if you do it for me?"

"Well, you could talk to your mom about why she insists on seeing GG, but not Charlie, who is her other granddaughter, by the way, you could read with her, or colour or hell, go with her to talk to Babette's gnomes she invites you."

Charlie swallowed hard as she listened to the fight heat up until she heard an exclamation of "Whatever," from her father and a door slam a few moments later.

"Momma?" Charlie asked quietly as she came into the living room.  
"Hey, what are you doing up?" Lorelai asked, forcing a tired smile onto her face.

"I promise not to hit GG again, no matter how mad she makes me," Charlie apologised quickly as she crawled onto Lorelai's lap.

"A very good call," she said with a chuckle.

"Where's dad?"

"He went out for a bit," Lorelai lied. "He needs to do some thinking."

"Oh."

"Hey, how about some hot chocolate before you go back to bed?" she asked. Charlie nodded and let Lorelai deposit her on the couch before she got up and headed to the kitchen. Charlie headed over to the window a moment later and peaked out at the jeep and Volvo that should be in the drive way.

Only the Jeep was there.

* * *

**Charlie's 5. GG's 3.5**

* * *

"Hey kiddo!" Chris said brightly when he saw Charlie hanging around the door frame of the bathroom. "Whatcha doin?"

"Watchin'" she replied casually as she made no effort to move.

"Whatchin' what?" he asked with a smile as he dug through his black shaving bag.

"You," she replied simply, her eyes following the movement of his hands. She was silently comparing his morning routine to Luke's. Charlie had rarely seen Luke's morning routine, if only because he was usually gone form the house before she got up. She did, however, know that he usually showered, then used an electric razor unless Lorelai specifically requested that he shave his face clean. He'd run a brush quickly through his hair before he'd toss on his blue cap and head out for the day. Chris had a lot more products than Luke did, almost as many as Lorelai had.

"Well, get in here," he said with a smile. She grinned a little too as she slipped into the bathroom, standing slightly behind him. Luke had never invited her in. He didn't mind if she watched, but he never invited her in. Chris chuckled at her before he picked her up and sat her on the counter beside him, in between the double sinks. Charlie watched as Chris carefully pulled out his supplies and lined them up neatly in a row behind the sink in the order he'd use them in.

"So," he asked her as he turned the water on. "What are you up to today?"

"School," she replied as she watched him wash his face before he grabbed the can of shaving cream. "We're going to the gym today, maybe out side if it isn't too cold. Gotta remember to bring my crazy carpet," she replied as she stuck her finger in a glob of shaving cream that had fallen out of his hand.

"Just in case?" he asked as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Just in case," she replied as she finished drawing a pattern in the cream.

"Good plan," he said as he rinsed of his hands before picking up his razor. Charlie stopped what she was doing and watched as Chris carefully moved the sharp blades over his face.

"What else are you up to?" he prompted, trying to get as much info out of Charlie as he could. He and GG were staying over fairly regularly now, the least he could do was learn about Charlie' s schedule so he could help out too.

"I have dance today, after school," she told him as she subconsciously stretched out her neck like he was doing. He smiled a little when he saw this. "Ballet with Miss Patty. She says I'm really good. . . "

"I hear a but in there."

"I dunno. I stumble a lot," she said. "And I have trouble keepin' quiet. I like Jazz better but Miss Patty says you have to learn ballet if you're gonna learn jazz."

"Well, from what I've heard, Miss Patty has done it all, so she's probably right," he commented as he rinsed off his razor one last time before splashing water on his face. Charlie giggled as he got some on her as well.

"Do you think . . .maybe. . . " Charlie trailed off.

"Do I think maybe what?" he asked as he towelled off his face before reaching for the after shave.

"Do you think maybe you could come and watch?" she asked quietly, uncertainty written all over her face. It hurt Chris to know that he had put that look on her face. The few other times she had asked him to things, he had bailed out at the last minute, mostly because of GG's behaviour.

"I think I would love to," he said. "I will leave GG here with your mom so it's just us, how does that sound?"

"Really?" Charlie asked, her face lighting up.

"Really. Class starts at 5 o'clock, right?" he asked.

"Yeah. We have dinner later on dance nights," she informed him, her feet starting to swing as he recapped the after shave and grabbed his tooth brush.

"Well, we'll just have to have a really great snack after school then, won't we?" he asked as he quickly began to brush his teeth.

"Yeah!" Charlie said, starting to get really excited about things. "A really great snack!" He snickered a little as she bounced a little on the counter.

"Well, before we do any of that," he said as he repacked his bag. "I think breakfast is in order."

"Yeah! Pop Tarts!" Charlie said as Chris lifted her off the counter.

"How about eggs?" he asked her with a smile.

"Who's gonna make'em?" she asked as she leaned over to turn out the light on their way past. Chris chuckled.

"I can cook, ya know," he told her as he offered her a little tickle.

"Really?" she asked him, not sure if she believed him or not.

"Really really," he assured her with a smile as they headed down the stairs. She bugged him about cooking a little longer until he dumped her on the couch next to GG and headed to the kitchen.

* * *

"Wow," she said when she saw the spread of bacon, eggs and pop tarts on the table. "Dad can cook," she told Lorelai as she climbed up onto the chair next to her.

"He apparently can," Lorelai replied as she grabbed a pop tart for Charlie and one for GG who was sitting on her other side. "But is it eatable, that's the real question."

"Hey!" Chris said, pretending to be mad. "Of course you can eat it. Tell'em Geeg."

"It's good," the little blonde insisted as she took a bite of pop tart while Chris spooned some eggs and a couple of pieces of bacon onto her plate.

"Like we're going to take the word of someone who puts ketchup on everything," Lorelai said dismissively, though she was wearing a smile on her face. Charlie giggled as she snatched a piece of bacon off her plate and slipped it to Paul Anka.

* * *

Lorelai watched as Chris and GG walked Charlie to school after breakfast and she sighed, a small smile on her face. Maybe this was all going to work out the way it should.

* * *


	16. Chapter 16

Ok, peace offering. A couple of things first.

1. I LOVE that all I had to do was write Chris centric scenes to get you kids out to review. They were hilarious reviews, I laughed all day, thank you. Next time though, please read the authors note before you start in on me. Da Capo has reached the point of no return for the LL relationship. I HAVE A PLAN! DON'T WORRY!! Like I said, the Chris/Charlie bonding was requested a while ago, so there it ended up. The other Chris centric ones. . . I dunno. My excuse is the same one the show writers used: it was an interesting dramatic story line to explore. I got nothin' else.

2. I also love that the majority of the hate was from commenters with no accounts. Good job guys. Would it kill you to come out of the wood work at least once to tell me I done good?? Because that would be special. Really.**  
**

**Charlie 7, Maddy's 1**

* * *

"You think I'd be surprised by this by now!" Lorelai yelled out from the bathroom.

"Surprised by what?" Luke called back, taking a break from the book he was reading the Maddy and Charlie.

"The unexpected!" she called back, not elaborating any more. Luke paused as he thought about this for a moment.

"OK," he called back eventually before he went back to reading to the girls. He glanced down at Charlie when he heard the 7 year old giggle. "What?" he asked her.

"Momma's sick," she said, looking up at him.

"She's fine," he replied.

"Uh uh," Charlie said wtih a shake of her head and a smile on her face. Just as he was about to question her further, Maddy pulled her thumb out of her mouth long enough to give out a disgruntled cry as she smacked at the book Luke had stopped reading. He glanced over at his youngest before he started reading again.

* * *

"Tell me again," he asked Charlie as he lugged her down stairs to her bedroom.

"Tell you what again?" she asked with a yawn, not bothering to lift her head up from his shoulder.

"About your mother being sick," he prompted as he neglected the main light in the room in favour of the desk lamp.

"She's sick," Charlie replied simply, offering a bit of a shrug as she grabbed her blankie and got comfortable. "She's sick like she was before MAddy came," she answered simply. This made Luke pause in the middle of pulling the comforter up over Charlie.

"Really?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Yeah," she said, another yawn nearly splitting her face. Luke got his wits about him and finished tucking her in before he dashed upstairs. He stood in the door way and fixed a stare on Lorelai who was sitting at the foot of the bed.

"None of the others were planned, why should this one be so different?" she asked with a shrug.

"Well, at least we're consistent," he replied, still not moving from the door frame.

"Opinions?"

"Here's hoping it's a boy this time," he replied with a ghost of a smile and shrug as he finally pushed away from the door frame and came into the room. Lorelai couldn't help but smile and shake her head.

"Typical guy," was all she said. He didn't reply as he rummaged through the laundry basket for a pair of pyjammas.

"Charlie's put it together already," he told her, changing the subject slightly.

"I'm not surprised. She picks up on everything. She's giving Patty and Babette a run for their money."

"God help us all," he said as he headed into the bath room. Even shutting the door didn't drowned out Lorelai's laughter.

* * *

**Charlie's about 2.5**

* * *

"So, uh, what are you doing on Saturday?" Lorelai asked. Luke looked up from the reciepts he was wroking on to look at her.

"Me?" he asked, pointing to himself with the pencil that was in his hand.

"No, Duke, your alter ego diner owner," she said sarcastically with an eye roll. "Yes you."

"No, why?"

"I need some help with a building project," she said, trying to make 'converting Charlie's crib into a toddler bed' sound more manly.

"What kind of building project?" he asked calmly, giving up on his reciepts for the moment.

"Well, I finally got Rory's room rearranged so I can fit another bed in there."

"Okay," he said, blinking at her calmly.

"Well, my mother planned a head for once in her life and as Charlie grows, so does her bed," she said with a smile. Luke considered this for a moment.

"So you need me to move something heavy," he concluded.

"Well, yes. But I also need you to take something apart and rebuild it. LIke the 6 MIllion Dollar man, only more furnitury," she said, offering him a smile.

"What time?" he asked with a sigh.

"Mid morning? During the lull?" she asked hopefully.

"Fine. Should she be sleeping like that?" he asked as he nodded towards Charlie who was slumped over int he high chair, asleep on a picture book she had been flipping through. Lorelai looked over her shoulder at her youngest before turning back to the diner owner.

"She's fine," she said with a sigh. "She refused to nap this afternoon so I knew the crash was coming eventually. HAve I mentioned that I love having a 2 year old recently?"

"No, you haven't," he said dryly as he went back to his reciepts.

"Because I totally do," she said, flashing him one last smile before she drained her coffee cup. "So, Saturday, around 10?"

"Saturday around 10," he confirmed as he watched her get up and head to the back corner. She dropped enough money on the table to cover their meal and a tip before she shoved Charlie's things back into her bag and gathered up the sleeping toddler. "Night Luke," she said quietly as she headed for the door.

"Night," he said as he met her at hte door and held it open for her. He watched the two of them head down the street for a moment before he flipped hte sign to closed and locked the door.

* * *

"Come in!" Lorelai yelled from the couch on Saturday morning. While she had managed to get dressed, Charlie was still in her fleecy blue foottie pyjammas, playing with some noisy toy her grandparents had bought her.

"Your handy man is here," Luke commented as he came in after stamping some snow off of his boots.

"Hi Bert," Lorelai called out absently as she watched the end of Sponge Bob before she got up off the couch. This caught Charlie's attention and she followed her mother across the living room. When she saw Luke, she quickly jumped up and rushed over as fast as she could.

"Luke!" she called out to him to get his attention. "Dat?" she asked, patting his tool box.

"That's Bert," Lorelai said quickly.

"Beht?" Charlie asked, cocking her head to the side as she looked at the tool box again.

"It's a tool box," Luke corrected as he finished taking off his coat, scarf and gloves.

"Beht," Charlie confirmed with a nod. "Ooooooooooh," she said with a shiver as she touched Bert. "Cowd," she explained.

"Well don't touch it then," Lorelai said with a smile. "Go play," she told Charlie as Luke picked Bert up. Charlie studied the pair for a moment before she wandered back over to her toy and Lorelai led Luke upstairs. "Look, not only did I find the instructions for you, I cleaned too," she told him, quite proud of her self. Luke glanced around the bedroom.

"Impressive," he admitted as he looked around at the nearly clean bedroom. As he dropped his tool box and picked up the instruction booklet on how to turnt he crib into a toddler bed, Lorelai sat down on the foot of the bed. "This is gonna take a while," he eventually told her.

"I know," she replied as she continued to sit.

"You could go and play with your kid or watch more cartoons," he said. "I don't really need to be supervised."

"I know," she replied again.

"So, aren't you going to. . . " he trailed off when he saw Charlie pop her head in the door way.

"Momma!" she exclaimed happily as she hurried over and climbed up onto the bed.

"Everyone loves a good handy man show," she replied with a smile. LUke shook his head as he cleared his throat and went back to reading.

* * *

"You can go back to the diner if you have to," Lorelai said a few hours later. Taking apart hte crib was taking way longer than either of them expected.

"It's fine," he said. "I told Caesar to call here if things got too busy for him to handle alone."

"Ok," she said as she glanced over at Charlie who was working her way through a chicken finger and some apple slices.

"Okay," he said after a moment. "That should do it," he said as he removed the last screw. Lorelai and Charlie both jumped a little as the crib sagged under its own weight. Luke carefully stacked the individual parts against the wall before he started lugging things downstairs. "Where are you setting this up?" he yelled up to her.

"Stay here," she told Charlie as she slid off the bed and dashed down stairs. She quickly joined him in Rory's room and explained how she wanted it set up.

* * *

"Very nice," Lorelai commented as hse and Luke took in the newly completed toddler bed. "Timings a little off, but very nice." Charlie had fallen asleep on her bed a few moments before she had come downstairs. He sent her a look and she simply gave him a smile.

"See you for dinner?' he asked as he packed up.

"We'll be around," she said casually.

"Good. Let's not do this again, ok?" he asked. She smiled and agreed, telling him that it would be a couple of years before she asked him to do this again. He shook his head as tey headed to the foyer.

"By Bert," she said to the tool box as Luke put on his winter gear. "It was nice to see you again."

"Nutty," was all Luke said to her as he grabbed the tool box and headed back to the diner. Lorelai called out her thanks once more before she shut hte bed and went to find clean sheets for Charlie's new old bed.

* * *


	17. Chapter 17

So, long time no see here. Well, the first one. . . first one is sad and angsty, but the rest are lighter. Just suck it up and either read the first one or skip over it.**  
**

* * *

**Charlie's nearly 5**

* * *

He had been sick for a while, nothing huge, just a persistent cough that kept dragging on and he was still having trouble catching his breath at the top of a flight of stairs.

"Just go see someone about it," Lorelai had told him one night. "Let some nice man in a white coat tell you it's nothing so you can stop worrying about it." He had grumbled about Doctors and hospitals and the hospital smell for a while, but he had kept the idea in the back of his head.

"A mass," The doctor had said, pointing it out to him on the x-ray he had taken. "It's small, smaller than I would have expected, but there it is," he said, tapping it with his pen. Luke stared at the solid white circle that was surrounded by a sea of hazy white clouds representing various other structures and he had felt his mouth go dry. He listened as the doctor rattled off treatment options and remission rates that would be discussed further with the specialist he was being referred to and, in the end, he thanked the doctor for his time, shook his hand and walked numbly out of the office. He sat in his truck for a long moment, trying to wrap his mind around things.

This was all a little to similar to his father for his tastes. Of course, his father hadn't been engaged and nearly married with a 12 year old and an almost 5 year old at home and a 21 year old at college.

"So, how'd it go?" Lorelai asked when he came in. She and Charlie both turned slightly to look at him from where they were sitting on the couch.

"Fine," he replied. "The nice man in a white coat told me not to worry." The nice man in a white coat had told him not to worry that they had caught it early and his chances were good. Lorelai stared at him for a moment as Charlie turned her attention back to the TV. He offered her a small smile that she returned before she turned her attention back to the TV too.

* * *

"You haven't heard a word I've said," she pointed out to him as she walked out of the bathroom, tooth brush in hand.

"You're right," he replied, finally looking up at her. "What did you say?" he asked as he finally pulled on the t-shirt he had been holding. Lorelai looked at him for a moment before she walked over and sat next to him on the bed.

"What's wrong?" she asked him, ignoring the drop of cold water that he dripped from her freshly rinsed tooth brush onto her hand. Luke sighed heavily and looked at his feet again.

"It wasn't fine," he admitted and she sat quietly as he told her what the nice man in the white coat had actually told him. She cut him off when he started to apologise for not telling her right away. The two sat silently for a moment as Lorelai absorbed the new curve in their path to happiness.

"Ok," she said slowly. "Well, where do we have to be and when?" He stood up and headed to where he had tossed his jeans. She watched as he rummaged through the pockets for a moment before he pulled out an appointment card and handed it to her. "Well," she said, reading the card. "We'll talk to Rory, April and Charlie after we see him then." He nodded and agreed without question. He didn't really understand how she could be so calm about this, but he was glad that at least one of them could focus on what needed to happen.

* * *

Lorelai had told Rory first, she had driven down to New Haven a few days after the appointment and Rory had asked what she could do to help after she had wrapped her mind around things.

"We're telling April and Charlie this weekend," Lorelai replied. Rory said she'd be there and that she wouldn't tell Emily and Richard about it until Lorelai said she could. The pair talked quietly for a while longer before Lorelai had to head home. Rory sat in the apartment she shared with Paris and Doyle, not really sure what to do next. Eventually, she got up and headed to her room, determined to at least try and focus on the homework she had to do.

* * *

April and Charlie had dealt with the news much the way they had thought they would April had started asking questions that no one could really answer and Charlie had just started to cry, burying herself in her mothers arms. Frustrated with the lack of answers, April jotted some notes down on a scrap of paper and she and Rory headed to one of the larger libraries in Hartford to get some answers.

"You're gonna be ok though, right?" Charlie eventually got out as she crawled from Lorelai's lap to Luke's. "When it's all over, you're gonna be ok?" she asked, looking up at him as she tried to keep herself together.

"That's the plan," he replied as he held her close. He and Lorelai were both glad she hadn't made him promise.

* * *

Things progressed as expected, both in Stars Hollow and else where. The town caught wind of what was going on and everyone pitched in, like always. There was always someone ready to sit with Charlie, or get her to and from an activity while several people signed up to work shifts at the diner for tips only.

"Well, you have the tattoo, you now have a totally bitchin' scar. . . all you really need now is a motorcycle," Lorelai joked to Luke a few days after surgery. He chuckled and she was pretty sure that was only because of the morphine they had him on, but she didn't care. He started chemo a few weeks later and began to question how, exactly, pumping his body full of toxic chemicals was actually going to be beneficial to his health.

"Betcha wish you had eaten that cheese cake, don't ya?" Lorelai asked him one day as she kept him company on the bathroom floor. He chuckled weakly, thinking back to the cheese cake he had sent home with her when they had been dating and the fight Liz and TJ'd had in his bathroom.

"Maybe a little," he admitted before he closed his eyes for a moment. She couldn't help but pat the back of his hand that was resting on her knee as she returned the smile.

* * *

Charlie slouched in her chair and pouted as her mother left the room to answer her cell phone. She had left Charlie with specific instructions to stay in the chair.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked after he turned his attention to Charlie. The long days of quiet hospital visits were starting to take their toll.

"Sponge Bob is on," Charlie complained. "And this chair sucks." He couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"Well, come here," he said, nodding his head towards the bed as he slowly reached over for the TV remote. Charlie hesitated for a moment before she slid off the chair and hurried over to the bed. She dropped her blankie on the bed before she kicked off her shoes, took off her sweater and quickly scrambled up on the bed, careful not to bump Luke. He shifted over slowly to make room and the pair were soon snuggled together.

"I'll find it," she told him as he handed her the remote. He laid back and watched as the channels flipped by. He was more than a little amazed when she stopped on the right channel on the first try. As they settled down to watch the inane cartoon, he couldn't help but smile as the little girl started to sing along with the obnoxious theme song.

As the cartoon dragged on, Luke let himself drift. He was rather amazed at how quickly things started to seem like home when he closed his eyes. As he reached that spot between sleep and awake, he let his hands run through Charlie's hair, enjoying the feel of it between his fingers.

* * *

Lorelai rolled her eyes as she hung up with Michel. Yes, she did realise that she was the owner and needed to put in some time at the inn, but she couldn't be two places at once no matter how much she wanted to be. Still fuming from having to remind Michel that he was the manager of the Dragonfly and he should be dealing with complaints, she grumbled at her cell phone for a moment longer before she shoved it in her purse and headed back to Luke's room.

She had to pause when she reached the door way. She leaned against the frame as she took in the pair. They both looked like they were asleep, Charlie tucked into his side as she clutched her blankie and sucked her thumb while he slowly ran his hands through her hair. Lorelai allowed herself to wonder what she would do if anything happened to Luke, but she quickly pushed it out of her mind again before she finally moved into the room. She wandered slowly over to the bed, wishing she had worn a pair of sneakers instead of her black boots with the cute little heel.

"Hey," she said softly when he cracked an eye open and looked at her.

"Hey," he replied quietly.

"I told her to stay in the chair." He shrugged a little and told her that he had invited her up.

"Sponge Bob and all," he said. She stared at him for a moment before she shook her head.

"You two are quite the pair," was all she could say before she moved to the other side of the bed and sat near the foot to watch the cartoon as well.

* * *

**Charlie's 3**

* * *

Charlie tried to bury her head further into her pillow, but the racket in the kitchen didn't get any quieter. Eventually, the almost 3 year old rolled over flat onto her back and stared at the ceiling as she listened. If this what her nights were going to be like, she was going to start asking her mom to send Rory back to Yale. Eventually, the little girl grabbed her blankie and slid out of bed. She padded to the door and blinked at the harsh light in the kitchen as she watched Rory rush around her.

"Oh, hey Charlie!" Rory said brightly as she started rattling away about what she was doing. Charlie frowned as she listened to Rory for a moment. She soon grew tired of this and, with her blankie dragging on the floor behind her, she trudged slowly towards the living room and she carefully made her way up the stairs and into her mother's room.

"Momma!" Charlie said loudly and watched in satisfaction as Lorelai jumped awake.

"What?" she asked immediately. Charlie simply held her arms up and waited. Lorelai slowly leaned over the edge of the bed and help Charlie climb up. As she held the covers up for Charlie to snuggle under, she wouldn't help but listen to the noise that was coming from the ground floor. "Ah, that would be why you're paying mommy a visit, not because you miss me," she said. Charlie had been moved down to Rory's room a few weeks ago and would still come upstairs and crawl into bed with Lorelai every now and then. Lorelai laid in bed for another moment, hoping it would grow quiet, but when it didn't, she flung her covers off and trudged downstairs.

Charlie sighed contentedly as she arranged herself under the familiar covers of her mother's bed. With a yawn, she watched as Lorelai headed for the bedroom door before she quietly slipped her thumb into her mouth.

"Great to have ya home, hun," Charlie heard a few moments later. Charlie yawned again and rolled over, happy to have the silence in the house again. "Your sister, I swear," Lorelai muttered as she slipped into bed beside her youngest and pulled her close. The two drifted back off to sleep soon after.

* * *

**Charlie's just about 5**

* * *

Charlie sat quietly in her car seat as she and her mother headed to Hartford. Something was gong on , but no one was talking about it. They had picked Rory up from a police station a few days ago and now Lorelai was mad and Rory wasn't home any more.

"Momma?" Charlie asked quietly.

"What?" Lorelai asked. The fact that Lorelai didn't glance at Charlie in the rear-view mirror wasn't lost on her.

"Where's Rory?" she asked cautiously. Lorelai replied that she was on her way to Hartford and offered nothing else. Charlie frowned a little and sank back into her seat. She stayed quiet for the rest of the ride to Hartford, not really sure what was going to happen next.

"Come on," Lorelai said lightly as she helped Charlie out of her seat and onto the pavement of the driveway.

"We're early," Charlie commented. Usually, the number on the radio said 7:00. Tonight it read 6:45.

"I know," Lorelai said as she rang the door bell. "Happy faces," she commented. Charlie frowned again, but allowed her mother to lead her into the house and help her pass her coat off to the maid before they headed towards the living room. As she was about to greet her grandparents, they started to speak first. She sat on the couch next to Lorelai and listened as she, Emily and Richard started to talk about a situation and Rory and Yale. The 3 year old chewed on her lip in order to keep quiet. She desperately wanted to ask what was going on, but she couldn't get a word in edge wise.

She flinched a little as Lorelai grabbed her hand and held it a little tighter than was comfortable. She nearly tripped when her mother yanked her up and stormed into the dinning room.

"Momma," Charlie protested before Lorelai scooped her up and continued on her tirade about what she had discussed with her parents early in the week.

"I don't under. . . " Lorelai started.

"To watch her, keep her from getting into trouble," Richard said. "We can get her back on track!" he insisted. Lorelai shook her head and headed back to the living room. She found her coat and Charlie's and dropped Charlie to the ground, handing her her coat. Before the little girl could even ask what was going on, her mother had ushered her out the door with Richard calling after them.

"What's going on? Where's Rory? Why aren't we staying?" Charlie asked quickly, her questions rushing out as she rushed to keep up with her mother.

"Keep up," was all Lorelai said as she hurried to the back yard.

"Momma," Charlie called as she now broke into a run to keep up with Lorelai. "Oof!" she let out when she slammed into the back of Lorelai's legs. Giving her head a shake, Charlie peaked out around her mother and saw Rory in the pool house. With a smile, Charlie started towards the door, but hesitated when her mother didn't follow.

"Come on," she said, offering her mother a smile that quickly fell off of her face when she saw the look on her mother's face. She turned her gaze back to Rory in the pool house and her face fell a little further when she saw the look on her sisters face. She offered Rory a smile and a wave that wasn't returned.

"Come on, baby," Lorelai said softly, offering a hand. Charlie offered Rory one last wave before she took Lorelai's hand and the pair quietly left the Gilmore residence.

* * *

The ride back to Stars Hollow was quiet. Lorelai didn't say anything as she tried to keep her tears at bay and Charlie sat in the back of the jeep, stewing over why her sister was unpacking in the pool house instead of at home.

Finally, they reached Stars Hollow, coming to a stop in front of the diner.

"Hey, why don't you take a couple of donuts and head upstairs for a bit?" Lorelai asked as soon as they set foot in the diner. Luke looked up at Lorelai and Charlie quickly, ready to protest the fact that she was going to feed the pre-schooler donuts but when he saw the looks on both of their faces, he simply went to the counter and put two of Charlie's favourites on a plate. "I'll be up in a minute, ok?"

"Ok," Charlie said slowly. She looked at Lorelai again for a long moment before she accepted the plate from Luke and climbed up the stairs to his apartment slowly.

"Rory dropped out of Yale," Lorelai said once Charlie was out of the diner.

"What?" was all Luke could say as his eyes grew wide and he worked hard to not let his jaw drop to the floor. Lorelai shrugged and sniffled a little as she sat heavily in a chair.

"She dropped out of Yale and moved in with my parents, who I went to for help, and they stabbed me in the back," she said. Luke shook his head as he listened to all of this. As soon as Lorelai was done with her story, Luke jumped in, outlining an elaborate plan to get Rory back into Yale.

"What?" he asked once he was done and all Lorelai did was stare at him.

"Thank you," was all she said as she stood up slowly and he welcomed her into his arms. They held each other for a moment before she placed an order for two Friday Night Specials. "I've got a 3 year old I need to explain all of this to."

"Do you want me to. . . " he trailed off, nodding towards the stairs. Lorelai shook her head.

"She's gonna cry when it all comes out," Lorelai told him. "She hates to cry in front of you because she knows it freaks you out. She's gonna need to cry, I need to cry. We'll be done when the food's ready," Lorelai said calmly.

"You can cry tonight," Luke told her, dropping a kiss on the top of her head. "I won't get freaked out," he promised. She offered a watery smile before she finally slipped out of his arms and trudged up the stairs.

* * *

**Charlie's 4.5**

* * *

"Come on," Luke said as he rushed Charlie into her coat and hat after school. "The diner is packed, Lane is late and Caesar is freaking out," he grumbled as he grabbed her pack off of the hook and ushered her out the door. Charlie prattled on about school as she jogged a little to keep up with Luke.

"I'm ok," she said quickly after she slipped on an icy patch. She quickly pulled her self up and raced after him again. "Luke?" she asked as she climbed up onto a stool at the counter.

"What?" he asked as he left a glass of apple juice in front of her.

"What's she like?" she asked as she shrugged out of her coat.

"What's who like?" he asked as he rushed to pick up a few orders. Charlie spun around on the stool so she could keep an eye on Luke.

"You're kid. What's she like?" Charlie asked again as he walked past her on his was behind the counter. Luke avoided the questing for a moment until Charlie made him pay attention to her.

"Come on," he said gruffly, nodding towards the stairs. With a sigh, Charlie slid off of her stool, grabbed her coat and bag and followed him up the stairs. "Her name is April," he told her as he sat her down at the kitchen table. "She's 12."

"Is she nice?" Charlie asked, swinging her feet a little under the table.

"I think so. Smart too," he commented.

"How smart?" Charlie asked, accepting the glass of milk he had put in front of her.

"Pretty smart. She's good a science, math, that kind of smart." He watched as Charlie nodded as she mulled this over.

"Does she look like you? Everyone says I look like mom, so, does she look like you or her mom?"

"Her mom, mostly. Why are you so interested?" he asked with a bit of a smile as he finally sat down at the table with her.

"Well, you're marrying mom and since she's your kid, she's gonna be my sister. . . And Rory's. I think I should get to know her, don't you?" she turned to look at him with big eyes. Luke sighed heavily and dropped his head forward.

"Charlie. . ." he started.

"We should get to know her, right? Me and mom and Rory?" she asked again, leaning on the table a little.

"You will," he said quickly.

"When? Tomorrow?" she asked hopefully.

"I dunno Charlie," he said quickly as he stood up from the table. "Watch a video of something, ok? I'll be up in a bit," he said as he headed for the door.

"Yeah, okay," she said, trying not to sound too disappointed. Luke rested against the door for a moment. He did want to introduce all the Gilmore Girls to April, he just wanted a little more time with her by himself before they managed to sweep her off into their world. With a final sigh, he pushed himself away from the door and headed back down to the craziness in the diner.

* * *

"What happened today?" Lorelai asked Luke as they got ready for bed that night.

"What do you mean?" he asked as he pulled his t-shirt over his head.

"Miss Poutilina down stairs. Bad day at school?" Lorelai asked as she leaned against the sinks, arms crossed over her chest. Luke sighed heavily.

"She was asking all these questions about April and when was she going to meet her and I didn't know what to say."

"How could you not know what to say?" she asked, a little confused as to why they were even having this conversation.

"I just. . . I need more time with her," he said. "I need more time with April before I introduce the three of you two her."

"Why?" Lorelai asked as she turned out the light in the bathroom and followed Luke to bed. "Why can't we get to know her at the same time?"

She listened as Luke spilled out how he wanted to get to know her, make a relationship with her before she got swept up in the excitement that is life with the Gilmore Girls. "She's your kid Luke, we're not going to change that."

"I just need more time," he said. The pair looked at each other for a moment.

"Fine," Lorelai said, rather coldly. "Let me know when we can be part of this again." Luke watched as she quickly got under the covers and rolled over so her back was to him.

* * *

"So, the kid with Lorelai, is she your daughter too?" April asked a few days later. She was sitting at the counter, her school books spread out in front of her.

"No," he said quickly. "Charlie, Charlotte, but we call her Charlie. Charlie is Lorelai's daughter. Rory, I've told you about her, she's Charlie's older sister." He watched as April mulled this over.

"And you and Lorelai are engaged?" she asked, making sure that she had most of hte facts about her father's life straight.

"Yeah," he said as he refilled the coffee machines.

"When do I get to meet them?" she frowned a little as she watched Luke hesitate with the coffee filter. "Luke?"

"You want to meet them?" he asked, finally turning around to look at her.

"Well, we are going to be family, it might be good if I got to know them soon. I'm still staying over Saturday night, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, Saturday night," he said, his mind reeling over the conversation they'd just had.

* * *

"What are you doing Saturday night?" Luke asked Lorelai when she, Charlie and Rory came in to the diner after Friday night dinner.

"Uh, well, Matthew Perry and I had plans, but they were sketchy at best. Why?" she asked.

"April is staying over and I thought that maybe dinner and a movie night might be in order."

"Really??" Charlie called as she jerked her head up to look at Luke.

"Yeah," he said, eyes still focused on Lorelai.

"I think we can swing that," Lorelai said slowly with a nod. Luke returned it, pleased to see the corners of Lorelai's mouth turning up into a grin.

"So, I guess we'll pop over around 5:30?" Luke asked as he topped off Lorelai and Rory's coffee cups.

"We'll be ready," she said with a nod. Luke nodded again and headed back to the counter. He couldn't help but smile as he heard the girls immediately  
start planning a menu and the movies that would be watched.

* * *

**Charlie's 5**

* * *

Lorelai's eyes popped open when she heard the first clap of thunder. She waited a few more minutes and was rewarded with a brilliant flash of light in the sky.

"It's raining," she muttered to Luke.

"Wha?" he muttered, his face still buried in his pillow.

"And thundering. Some lightening too," she said, ignoring his confused mutterings.

"Should I wake up for this?" he asked, turning slightly to look at her.

"Go back to sleep," she said with a smile and a shake of her head. Luke gave a bit of a snort and rolled back over, going to back to sleep. Lorelai fidgeted with the duvet cover for a few more moments before she finally slid out of bed and crept downstairs.

She couldn't help but smile when she saw the door to Charlie's room open and no little girl in the bed. She crept to the living room and peaked out the windows, smiling when she saw the little girl huddled on the padded bench, the throw from the couch thrown over her as she watched the rain fall hard.

Rain was to Charlie what snow was to Lorelai.

The 5 year old was drawn to it, taking every chance she got to either watch the rain or, when it was really warm out, go right out and sit in the middle of the yard, among Babette's gnomes and not come in until Luke physically brought her in or the rain stopped.

Lorelai watched her youngest for a while longer until she saw the little girl start to shiver a little. She quickly headed to the closet and pulled out a heavier blanket before she slipped out the door.

"Hey water baby," Lorelai said as she unfolded the blanket.

"It's raining really hard," Charlie said and Lorelai could hear the delight in her voice.

"It certainly is," Lorelai replied as she threw the blanket around her shoulders and sat down on the bench. She held the blanket open and Charlie quickly slid onto her lap and into her arms.

"Luke doesn't get it," Charlie said quietly as her and her mother shared a moment.

"Oh, I think he does," Lorelai countered. Luke knew that snow and rain, held some special spot in Lorelai and Charlie's hearts. He understood the snow thing more than the rain thing, but he knew they were both important to his girls, so he tended to just let them do their thing and go along with it when invited.

"I love the rain," Charlie said. "I love the way it smells and sounds and how it makes everything clean and cools everything off when it's hot," Charlie rattled on, stopping only when a yawn made her.

"I know," Lorelai said softly, a smile on her face as she dropped a soft kiss onto the top of Charlie's head. "I think you should go back to bed," Lorelai muttered.

"Just a little longer," Charlie begged as she snuggled a little deeper into her mother's arms. Lorelai smiled knowingly as Charlie's thumb floated into her mouth and the little girl sucked contentedly as she drifted off again, letting the rain lull her to sleep.

"Just a little longer," Lorelai said as she relaxed back into the bench, enjoying the rain .

* * *


	18. Chapter 18

Charlie's 5

* * *

Lorelai shrugged Charlie a little higher up on her shoulder. Satisfied that Richard was okay, the 5 year old was finally beginning to drop off.

"Tired?" Lorelai asked her quietly as the Doctor prattled on to Emily.

"He's gonna be ok," Charlie muttered with a yawn. Lorelai smiled.

"He's gonna be ok," she agreed as they came back into the main waiting room. Noticing something out of the corner of her eye, Lorelai turned and glanced at the nurses station. Seeing that Luke had returned, she excused herself from Rory and Logan and headed over. The two fell into a conversation about the food Luke had brought over before she mentioned that Richard was going to be ok.

"What about her?" he asked when he saw Charlie, now asleep, on Lorelai's shoulder.

"She's relieved," was all Lorelai could say. "And heavy," she added with a smile.

"Do you want me to. . . uh. . . " he muttered, gesturing to Charlie.

"Do I want you to what?" she asked.

"Take her home with me? I mean, I'm sure you could do without lugging her around, or worrying about her." A sad smile fell over Lorelai's face.

"You really don't have to do that," she said. "Chris should be here any . . ." she trailed off and fell silent for a moment.  
"He should be here any moment?" Luke prompted. He frowned a little as he watched her face.

"Honestly? I don't know where he is," she said with a bit of a sigh.

"Lorelai . . ." he started. He didn't really need to hear this and wished he hadn't even offered to look after the little girl for her. "He'll be here," he said, trying to sound as confident as he could. She gave a little bit of a snort before she shifted Charlie slightly again. "Give her to me," he said as he finally reached over and plucked the little girl from Lorelai's arms. He refrained from commenting on how big she'd gotten since he had last seen her. "Tell him. . . tell him your mother insisted," Luke said. Lorelai offered a small smile before a blur caught her eye.

"Christopher," Lorelai said some what excitedly when she saw him come around the corner. He greeted her coolly as he took in the picture of Luke with Charlie.

"Here," Luke said quickly, offering Charlie to Christopher. "Emily shoved her at me before I could say no. She was insisting I take her home and wouldn't listen to me when I tried to tell her I didn't have a seat for her anymore." Chris accepted Charlie from Luke but the pair continued to give each other dirty looks.

"Dad!" Rory said excitedly as she and Logan came back around the corner. Lorelai and Luke listened as Rory invited Chris back to see Richard and the pair watched them wander back. Lorelai frowned as Chris sent them one more dirty look before they went.

"I guess I'll just head out," he said after a moment. "Call me if you need anything," he said. Lorelai wrapped her arms around her waist and nodded. He offered one last waive before he turned and slowly left the hospital.

Emily frowned a little as she watched the scene between her daughter, Son-in-law and the Diner Owner unfold. She knew that Christopher and Lorelai were having trouble, she'd had a feeling about that since the fight they'd had while party planning. Eventually, when Christopher had headed off with Rory and Luke had left the building, she wandered over to Lorelai, offering a few words of advice.

"Oh well, blood is thicker than water," she finished as she looked down the hallway Christopher had walked down while Lorelai cast a longing glance at the bags Luke had dropped off.

* * *

Charlie's just about 5. Second part of the scene about Rory dropping out of Yale.

* * *

Charlie watched as Luke placed two of her favourite donuts on a plate and handed it to her. She took the plate and glanced down at the pastries before she turned and slowly headed towards the stairs. She started up them, but paused when she heard her mother start to talk. She left the plate on the stairs and crept back to the door way. She pulled the curtain aside a little and listened to Lorelai spill out the night's events to Luke. The little girl fought the want to run to her mother, she was supposed to be upstairs, not hearing this right now so she settled for gripping the curtain a little tighter and biting her lip. She couldn't help but smile a little when she heard Luke start in on his plan to kidnap Rory and convince her to go back to school. When she heard the couple get quiet, she slowly trudged up the stairs to the apartment, leaving the plate of donuts forgotten and alone on the stairs.

* * *

Lorelai reluctantly pulled herself out of Luke's arms. He cast a long, concerned glance over her, brushing a few stray tears away from her face as she finally pulled completely away from him and headed for the stairs. She paused as she saw the donuts on the stairs. She picked the plate up with a sigh and slowly slogged up the stairs. Charlie had listened in on the conversation. She began to mentally prepare herself for the onslaught of questions she was going to be met with.

"Charlie?" she asked as she came into the apartment. There was no answer, but she could hear the television on in the back ground. Lorelai left the plate on the table and wandered a little further into the apartment, finally finding the almost 4 year old huddled in the middle of the bed she and Luke shared. "Charlie?" she asked again as she came to the edge of the bed. "You gotta talk to me babe," she said as she seated herself on the edge of the bed. Lorelai studied the little girl as she remained silent, mulling over things.

"Rory's not coming home, is she?" she finally asked, still staring at the TV.

"Not right now," she said after a moment. "She and I. . . " Lorelai trailed off, trying to find the words. "We're not seeing eye to eye on a few things."

"Because Rory got arrested?" she asked, piecing together the events of the last week.

"That's part of it," Lorelai admitted as she began to coax Charlie into her arms.

"She promised to play with me this summer," Charlie said quietly, resisting Lorelai's attempts to comfort her. "She said we'd play and read and everything when ever she wasn't working."

"I know," she replied, not really sure what else to say. The pair fell into a silence that was only broken by the ramblings of cartoon characters from the TV. "Can't you just go and pick her up? Tell her hasta go back to school and make her go?" Charlie asked, finally looking up at her mother.

"I can't do that."

"But. . . " Charlie started, not believing that her mother didn't have the same power over Rory as she had over her.

"Rory is 20 years old Sweets, she's a grown up, she's old enough to be your mother." Charlie frowned a little at this. "When I was Rory's age, she was yours," Lorelai explained. "I can't make her do anything she doesn't want to. I can only tell her what she can't do in my house."

"Then tell her she can move home!" Charlie pleaded. "Tell her as long as she gets a job she can move home!" Lorelai sighed as she felt her heart break a little more. She knew this was going to be hard on her, she hadn't really imagined how hard this was going to be on Charlie.

"I can't," she said again, finally wrangling the little girl into her arms. "Rory has to decide to go back to school first. I don't care if she decides to start taking dance classes at Yale, as long as she's back at Yale."  
"Rory can't dance, she'll fail if she takes dance classes," the little girl muttered. Lorelai couldn't help but smile a little.

"Well, maybe not dance classes then," Lorelai conceded. The pair fell into a long silence again. "Do you want to stay here, or go home tonight?" Lorelai finally asked. Charlie thought about this for a long moment before she finally said she wanted to stay at the apartment, the though of having to sleep in her room, knowing that Rory wouldn't be there was not something she wanted to do. "Ok," Lorelai said. "We'll make a list and send Luke to the house after close."

"Momma?" Charlie said quietly.

"Yeah baby?"

"I miss Rory already."

"Me too," Lorelai said softly. "Me too."

* * *


	19. Chapter 19

* * *

**Season 6, Charlie is 4  
**

* * *

"Did we get robbed?" Charlie asked, horrified as she looked into the room she and Rory had shared. Rory's half of the room was empty.

"No," Lorelai said without looking into the room. She was still tearing down the notes Emily had left around the house.

"Then where are Rory's things?" she asked again as she finally went into the room and started to look around. She concentrated on examining Rory's side of the room.

"At Emily and Richard's," Lorelai said coolly as she pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge. Charlie stayed quiet for a moment as she considered things.

"Rory's not coming home, is she?" Charlie finally asked.

"Charlie. . . " Lorelai started from the kitchen table.

"She's not coming home, is she?" Charlie asked again as she left her room and stood in the kitchen .Lorelai finally looked up at her youngest and the two locked eyes for a long moment. "My tummy hurts," Charlie said after a moment.

"So does mine," Lorelai said as she welcomed Charlie into her arms. The little girl wandered over to her mother and curled up in her lap. The two sat quietly until Luke came in the house. He paused in the doorway as he took in the scene.

"Maybe I'll stay at my. ." Lorelai shook her head and Luke grew quiet.

"Go find some jammies and I'll fill the tub, ok?" she whispered. Charlie nodded and slid from Lorelai's lap, heading to her room. The pair watched Charlie go before Lorelai got up and headed to Luke. "My tummy hurts," she whispered to him as he drew her close.

"I know," he whispered to her as he held her close.

* * *

Still Season 6, Charlie is still 4

* * *

Luke crept into the house quietly, trying not to wake Charlie or Lorelai who was now sleeping in the living room because of the giant hole and subsequent renovations. He slipped off his shoes and paused when he saw an odd shaped lump in one of the chairs. He crept a little closer and realized that it was Charlie. He furrowed his brow for a moment as he tried to puzzle this out, but instead he simply crept over, gathered the little girl into his arms and carried her back to her room before he headed up to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

* * *

"I don't think Charlie's sleeping in her room any more," Luke said the next day.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Lorelai asked as she pointed some of the construction workers towards coffee. Luke quickly pulled her away from the crowd after making sure that Charlie had a muffin in her hand to share with Paul Anka. "I have come home late 3 nights this week and every night I've found her curled up in that chair in the living room." Lorelai thought about this for a moment.

"I'll talk to her about it," she said after a while, knowing that he was right.

* * *

"So, you can't stay here any more," Lorelai told him when Luke appeared in the next evening. "You're half of hte bed is spoken for," she finished, gesturing to the lump of little girl in it.

"So she really wasn't . . ." Lorelai shook her head and Luke sighed.

"I knew this was going to be hard on me, I just didn't realize how hard it was going to be on her. Maybe . . . maybe I should call Rory," she said quickly. "At least try and get Rory back into Charlie's life. . . " she looked to Luke for guidance. Unfortunately, he didn't really have any.

"I don't know what to tell you," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets as they wandered out to the kitchen.

"I have no idea how to handle this." The pair fell into silence for a long moment.

"I guess I should go then," he said after a moment. "Hey, if you, uh, you want some grown up company, the two of you are always welcome at my place."

"Thanks," she said with a smile before he kissed her goodnight and snuck out of the house.


End file.
